'■*JUBRN'-* 


NORTH  CAROLINA  STATE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARIES 

"liiilll 


S011 88779 


This  book  is  due  on  the  date  indicated 
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»Cj;S85  2()C 

#;  s )  w 

^JAN^-?  2001 
MAR  2  7  200? 

200M/09-98-981815 


BEEKEEPING 

IN  THE 

SOUTH 


A  Handbook  on  Seasons,  Methods  and  Honey 
Flora  of  the  Fifteen  Southern  States 


By  KENNITH  HAWKINS 

Beekeeping  Specialist  for  G.  B.  Lewis  Company. 

Former    Special    Agent    in    Bee    Culture 

U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture, 

15  States  South. 


AMERICAN  BEE  JOURNAL 
HAMILTON,  ILLINOIS 


Copyright,  1920. 

BY 

AMERICAN  BEE  JOUHNAI. 


This  volume  is  dedicated  to 
my  father  and  mother  and  to 
the  memory  of  Sam  Mottinger, 
my   first    beekeeping  teacher. 


d^.'^ns 


PREFACE 

THE  Information  given  in  this  bookis  intended  to  clear  the  impressions 
of  many  that  the  South  is  altogether  an  undeveloped  region  so 
far  as  beekeeping  is  concerned  and  that  one  has  only  to  move  to 
that  magic  region,  "Dixie,"  to  escape  the  problems  common  to  beekeepers 
living  in  the  North.  It  is  also  intended  as  a  defense  of  the  southern 
beekeeper,  of  whose  methods  and  opportunities  so  much  misinformation 
has  been  spread.  This  volume  is  not  intended  as  a  manual  for  the  be- 
ginner, but  to  supplement  standard  textbooks  so  as  to  show  what  differ- 
ences exist  in  beekeeping  methods  in  the  North  and  the  South. 

An  impression  gained  is  that  beekeeping  operations  differ  but  little 
in  the  South  from  those  in  vogue  elsewhere,  except  mainly  in  the  time  of 
their  application.  We  have  little  criticism  of  methods  in  vogue  in  the 
South,  except  the  lack  of  winter  protection  of  any  sort  in  too  much  of 
this  region.  Box  hives  are  too  prevalent  in  many  areas  of  the  South, 
but  so  they  are  in  the  North.  An  impression  of  southern  beekeepers  is 
their  eagerness  to  learn  modern  methods,  where  they  happen  to  be 
unknown,  and  to  put  them  into  practice. 

No  agency  has  worked  so  much  for  the  betterment  of  southern  bee- 
keeping as  the  extension  service,  both  federal  and  state.  The  impressions 
gained  and  recorded  here,  are  the  result  of  17  months  travel  in  the  15 
Southern  States  for  the  U.  S.  Bee  Culture  Laboratory  and  the  U.  S.  States 
Relations  Service  by  the  writer.  We  vouch  for  the  attempt  at  accuracy 
in  these  pages  and  will  hope  for  constructive  criticism,  as  this  volume  is 
a  pioneer  in  blazing  a  way  toward  accurate  information  on  beekeeping 
in  the  Southern  States. 

In  compiling  these  pages,  continual  work  and  correspondence  with 
dozens  of  southern  beekeepers  has  been  necessary,  over  a  period  of  nearly 
two  years.  To  credit  the  information  to  all  the  various  sources  is  im- 
possible for  the  lack  of  space. 

We  are  indebted  to  the  men  of  the  U.  S.  Bee  Culture  Laboratory,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  Dr.  E.  F.  Phillips,  George  S.  Demuth,  G.  H.  Cale  and  A.  P. 
Sturtevant  and  to  the  U.  S.  States  Relations  Service,  both  for  the  oppor- 
tunity to  work  in  the  Southern  States  and  for  guidance  regarding  these 
investigations  and  their  record.  We  are  also  indebted  to  each  of  the  bee 
culture  extension  men  of  the  South,  dozens  of  county  and  home  demon- 
stration agents  of  the  U.  S.  government  in  the  15  states,  south,  and  to 
each  of  the  state  and  experiment  station  entomologists  who  are  interested 
in  bee  culture.  The  Census  Bureau,  Bureau  of  Chemistry,  Bureau  of 
Plant  Industry,  Bureau  of  Entomology  and  Forest  Service  of  the  U.  S. 
Department  of  Agriculture  have  given  valuable  assistance. 

Mr.  Frank  C.  Pellett,  associate  editor  of  the  American  Bee  Journal, 
has  been  an  almost  constant  advisor  in  the  compiling  of  this  volume  and 
without  the  assistance  of  Dadant  and  Sons,  of  Hamilton,  Illinois,  and 
the  G.  B.  Lewis  Company,  Watertown,  Wisconsin,  this  volume  could 
not  have  been  published.  Kennith  Hawkins. 

Watertown,  Wis.  May  18,  1920. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     Shall  I  Go  South 9 

II.     What  a  Beginner  Must  Learn 17 

III.  Apparatus  of  the  South 23 

IV.  Making  a  Start. 29 

V.     The  Seasons  in  the  South... .-. 35 

VI.     Wintering  Bees  in  the  South ....'. 45 

VII.     Combless  Packages  and  Queen  Rearing..-.. 53 

VIII.     The  Tropical  South 61 

IX.     The  Alluvial  Region  69 

X.     Mountain  Beekeeping 79 

XI.     The  Lone  Star  State 87 

XIL     Bee  Diseases  and  Inspection 97 

XI II.  Southern  Honey  Markets.   105 

XIV.  Honev  Plants  of  the  South 11 1 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Frontispiece — "Dixie     Bees"    Apiary    of     Wilmon      Newell     under 

moss  hung  trees  in   Brazos  River  Bottoms.  Page 

Fig.      1.     A  small  apiary  at  Macon,  Georgia 11 

Fig.      2.      Table  showing  census  data  on  southern  beekeeping 13 

Fig.      3.      A  relic  of  the  old  days.     Apiary  of  box  hives 18 

Fig.     4.      A  modern  Texas  apiary  developed  from  two  box  hives 19 

Fig.      5.      A  modern  hive 25 

Fig.      6.      A  Virginia  swarm 31 

Fig.      7.      Mrs.  Grace  Allen's  backlot  bees 33 

Fig.      8.  It  is  necessary  to  guard  against  high  water  in  many  locations  35 

Fig.     9.     Apiary  of  P.  J.  Thullen  in  Alabama 36 

Fig.    10.      A  summer  meeting  in  Tennessee » 37 

Fig.    11.      J.  J.  Wilder,  a  prominent  Georgia  beekeeper 39 

Fig.    12.      Chart  of  temperatures  at  Louisville. 40 

Fig.    13.      When  a  norther  hits  the  South.  (Chart) 41 

Fig.   14.  When  snow  falls  in  Tennessee.     Photo  by  Mrs.  Grace  Allen...  42 

Fig.    15.  It  is  a  common  practice  to  winter  the  bees  with  supers  on 

the  hives  to  prevent  loss  of  combs  by  moths. 47 

Fig.    16.      A  West  Virginia  apiary  in  double  wrJlcd  hives 48 

Tig.~17.      By  rail  and  boat  to  Florida 49 

Fig.    18.  Walker's     mating    yard    in     Tennessee.     Photo  by  G.  M. 

Bent  ley.. 54 

Fig.    19.      Packages   crated   for   shipment 56 

Fig.   20.      A  handy  funnel  for  filling  packages. 57 

Fig.   21.      Queen  mating  nuclei  in  southwest  Texas _._ 58 

Fig.   22.     Home  and  queen  yard  of  J.  L.  Leath  at  Corinth,  Miss 59 

Fig.   23.  OneofM.  C.  Berry's  Alabama  yardsfor  breeding  package  bees.   60 

Fig.   24.      Apiary  of  B.  M.  Caraway  at  Mathis,  Texas 62 

Fig.   25.  Harry  Hewitt's  apiary  at  Lake  Apopka  in  tropical  Florida....  63 

Fig.   26.      Apiary  of  J.  K.  Isbell  on  the  Apalachlcola  River,  Florida 66 

Fig.   27.  Semltroplcal  conditions  prevail  in  Florida  and  in  the  lower 

Rio  Grande  Valley  in  Texas 67 

Fig.   28.      The  rich  flora  of  a  Georgia  swamp 70 

Fig.   29.      An  up-to-date  apiary  in  the  pine  woods  of  Alabama 71 

Fig.   30.  There  are  many  good  locations  along  the  streams  in  Georgia.   72 

Fig.   31.      Where   Tennessee   bees   hum 73 

Fig.   32.      A  Virginia  clover  location 75 

Fig.  33.      One  of  J.  J.  Wilder's  apiaries  in  south  Georgia 77 

Fig.   34.      Apiary  in  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains  of  Virginia..... 80 

Fig.   35_.  .  Attractive  hillside  location  in  Virginia. 81 

Tig.  36.      Typical  apiary  in  log  gums 82 

Fig.  37.      A  Mississippi  River  bottom  location  in  Arkansas. 83 

Fig.   3S<.      Box  hive  apiary  of  a  typical  mountaineer 84 

'        ^^      ^  7 


8  BEEKEEPING     IX      THE     SOUTH 

Fig.  39.  Apiary  of  a  Georgia  farmer  who  is  an  up-to-date  beekeeper...  85 
Fig.  40.      E.  G.  LeStourgeon,  Manager  of  the  Texas  Honey  Producers 

Association 88 

Fig.  41.      Bo.x  hives  are  rapidly  being  replaced  with  good  equipment...  89 

Fig.  42.      Apiary  shown  at  Fig.  41  after  being  transferred 90 

Fig.  43.      When  Texas  beemen  meet 91 

Fig.  44.      Combs  built  in  the  rocks,  by  wild  bees 92 

Fig.  45.      L.  B.  Smith's  apiary  at  Llano,  Texas 93 

Fig.  46.      Apiary  in   the    Rio   Grande   Valley   that   produced    20,000 

pounds    from    90    colonies. 94 

Fig.  47.  Scholl  arranges  his  hives  in  groups  of  five  in  partial  shade...  95 
Fig.  48.      Florida  Bee  Inspector's  Suit.     Photo  by  Wilmon  Newell —  99 

Fig.  49.      Texas  bee  inspector  demonstrating  transferring 100 

Fig.   50.      Think  of  inspecting  a  yard  like  this 101 

Fig.   51.      The  wreck  that  follows  an  epidemic  of  disease  when  left 

untreated 103 

Fig.   52.      Gaklcr's  wagon  was  long  a  familiar  sight  on  the  streets  of 

Memphis 106 

Fig.   53.      This   Georgia  beekeeper  has  a  honey  route  served  direct 

from  the  tank  in  his  car 107 

Fig.   54.      Lone  star  label  of  the  Texas  Association 109 

Fig.   55.      Blossoms  of  bitterwecd  in  Tennessee .111 

Fig.   56.      Blossoms  of  black  locust  in  Virginia 112 

Fig.   57.      Beehives  among  the  wild  asters  of  \'irginia 114 

Fig.   58.      Mesquite  is  an  important  source  of  honey  in  Texas 115 


\rri 


iri:,- 


BEEKEEPING  IN  THE 
SOUTH 

CHAPTER   I 
Shall  I  Go  South? 

THIS  question  has  been  repeatedly  asked  by  dozens  of  bee- 
keepers whenever  the  author  has  appeared  at  various 
beekeepers*  conventions  in  the  North,  and  has  prompted, 
in  a  measure,  the  writing  of  this  volume.  Many  inquiries  sent 
to  the  United  States  Bee  Culture  Laboratory  at  Washington, 
D.  C,  and  referred  to  the  author,  during  his  term  of  government 
bee  culture  extension  work  in  the  South,  showed  a  country  wide 
interest  in  southern  beekeeping.  Probably  many  of  the  writers 
were  disappointed  at  the  lack  of  definite  information  and  the 
conservative  prospects  pictured  in  the  answers  to  these  inquiries. 
However,  in  this  volum.e,  after  seventeen  months  spent  in  in- 
vestigating the  honey  producing  resources  of  the  South,  the 
author  hopes  to  give  more  accurate  information  about  bee- 
keeping prospects  of  the  South,  than  he  was  able  to  do  before. 

There  are  not  so  many  bee  locations  which  are  readily  accessi- 
ble and  untenanted  in  the  South  as  the  average  beekeeper  resid- 
ing elsewhere  in  the  United  States  might  expect.  Many  of  the 
ideal  bee  locations  are  now  taken,  except  in  the  localities  rather 
remote  from  modern  transportation.  In  these  remote  localities 
there  remain  many  good  bee  locations.  However,  one  of  the 
facts  that  should  be  taken  into  consideration  by  every  man  who 
has  at  any  time  considered  going  south  for  beekeeping,  is  that 
there  are  probably  more  bees  in  the  fifteen  southern  states, 
than  in  all  the  balance  of  the  United  States. 

Northern  Colonies  Outnumbered. 

The    figure?   compiled    from   the   census   of    1910,    which   are 


Library 


10  BEEKEEPIN(,      IX      THE     SOUl  H 

accurate  and  indicali\e  of  conditions  in  the  localities  reported, 
show  the  following  interesting  comparisons: 

The  number  of  farms  reporting  bees  in  1910  in  the  fifteen 
southern  states  were  297,511.  In  all  the  other  thirt>-three  states 
of  the  union,  there  were  but  288,444  farms  reporting  bees  at  the 
same  time. 

In  the  1910  census  the  number  of  colonies  of  Ix'es  reported 
on  farms  in  the  fifteen  southern  states  totalled  1,558,782,  while 
but  1,886,224  colonies  of  bees  were  reported  as  the  total  num- 
ber on  farms  in  the  remaining  thirty-three  states  on  the  same 
census  date. 

When  figured  out,  this  shows  that  the  average  number  of 
colonies  of  bees  |3er  farm  in  the  fifteen  southern  states  on  the  1910 
census  date,  was  more  than  fi\e  per  farm.  This  was  more  than 
the  average  per  farm  in  the  balance  of  the  I'nited  States  on  the 
same  census  date.  It  must  be  remembered  that  southern  farms 
probably  cover  a  smaller  acreage  than  those  in  the  North,  and 
are  therefore  more  numerous. 

However,  beekeefx^Ts  of  the  North  may  take  heart  when  the 
production  figures  are  compared,  the  difference  probably  result- 
ing because  of  the  number  of  box  hives  found  in  many  localities 
in  the  South,  and  the  probable  greater  numl)er  of  commercial 
honey  producers  in  the  North,  compared  with  the  number  found 
in  the  fifteen  southern  states. 

A  total  annual  production  of  16,810,945  pounds  of  honey  was 
reported  on  farms  in  the  fifteen  southern  states  by  the  census 
of  1910,  while  in  the  other  thirty-three  states  of  the  union,  a 
total  yield  of  v38,003,945  pounds  of  honey  produced  on  farms  was 
reported  for  the  same  period.  The  average  yield  per  colony  on 
farms  in  the  fifteen  states,  south,  as  reported  to  1910  census 
enumerators  was  fifteen  pounds,  while  for  the  balance  of  the 
country,  the  average  yield  reported  by  the  census  was  a  trifle 
over  nineteen  pounds  per  colony,  or  practically  33  1-3  per  cent 
more  than  in  the  South. 

These  figures  show  conclusively,  in  the  author's  opinion,  that 
the  South  has  many  more  bees  than  the  balance  of  the  country. 
It  is  also  known  as  a  certainty  from  jxTsonal  observation,  that  if 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


11 


honey  production  methods  in  the  South  are  bettered  during  the 
coming  five  years  as  they  have  been  in  the  past  half  decade, 
under  the  stimulus  of  extension  work  and  higher  prices,  northern 
beekeepers  are  going  to  have  a  hard  race  to  approximate  the 
efficiency  of  their  southern  beekeeping  neighbors. 

Are  You  Willing  to  Pioneer? 

One  of  the  questions  which  must  be  confronted  by  every 
northerner  who  wishes  to  go  south  for  beekeeping,  is  whether  or 
not  he  is  willing  to  pioneer.  If  he  is,  there  are  many  locations 
which  could  accommodate  settlement  from  outsiders.  On  the 
other  hand,  living  accommodations  near  well  populated  centers 
in  the  South  are  fully  as  good  as  in  the  North.  But  the  better 
beekeeping  opportunities  lie  in  the  bypaths  of  southern  wooded 
mountains  and  lowlands. 


Fig.   1.      A  small  apiary  belonging  to  J.  R.   Durden,  of  Macon.   Georgia. 


12  BEEKEEPING      IX     THE     SOUTH 

Another  feature  which  iiuisi  be  taken  into  consideration  is 
that  in  some  portions  of  the  South,  cspe(ially  in  the  lowlands, 
much  of  the  honey  produced  year  in  and  \ear  out,  would  average 
darker  in  color  than  in  the  clover  regions  of  the  North.  Still 
another  feature  is  that  in  many  parts,  i^articularly  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  east  Texas,  there  are 
vast  beekeeping  regions  where  bitterwecd  honey  must  be  reck- 
oned w  ith.  This  is  covered  more  fully  in  the  chapter  on  "Sources 
of  Honey  in  the  South."  This  honey  is  bitter,  unpalatable  and 
unsalable.  However,  bees  do  not  work  bitterweed  when  other 
equal  nectar  sources  are  available  an<l  the  season  is  usually 
short  when  bitterweed  honey  is  stored.  This  enables  the  care- 
ful beekeeper  to  separate  the  flows.  A  feasible  plan  which  is  now 
being  used  by  some  beekeepers  of  the  bitterweed  region,  is  to 
extract  and  store  away  the  entire  crop  of  bitterweed  honey.  At 
the  end  of  the  season  the  frames  of  the  brood  chamber  which 
may  contain  a  fair  grade  of  honey  may  be  extracted,  and  the 
bitterweed  honey  fed  back  to  the  bees  for  winter  stores.  The  use 
of  bitterweed  honey  for  w^inter  stores  has  never  proved  un- 
satisfactory, to  the  knowledge  of  the  author. 

We  have  often  wondered  why  some  enterprising  patent  medi- 
cine man  did  not  buy  up  quantities  of  this  bitterweed  honey, 
which  tastes  like  liquid  quinine,  and  put  it  on  the  market  as  a 
cold  "cure."    It  would  certainly  haxe  a  "punch"  with  it. 

Honey,  Bees  or  Queens? 

A  problem  which  must  be  considered  by  any  'foreign"  bee- 
keeper, is  whether  or  not  he  wishes  to  go  south  for  the  production 
of  honey,  bees  or  queens?  Good  honey  producing  regions  are 
found  in  nearly  all  portions  of  the  southern  states.  Queens  can 
usually  be  raised  successfully  for  early  shipment  to  the  North 
in  April  and  May  without  fail,  in  all  the  territory  below  a  line 
which  might  be  drawn  through  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
Birmingham,  Alabama,  and  Austin,  Texas.  North  of  this 
line  queen  breeding  is  carried  on  just  as  successfully,  but  breed- 
ers in  this  northern  belt  often  exi^erience  sudden  changes  of 


BEEKEEPING      IX      THE     SOUTH 


13 


c 

i'er  centLby  months  during 
the  season 

u 

>> 

t) 

c 

Per  cent  as  reported  to 
U.  S.  census 

^5 
'■2 

u 

3 

-o 
o 

(1) 

c 

c 

a> 
c 
o 
X 

Form  of  honey 

per  cent 
produced,  1917 

Annual 
yields  per 

colony 
1,909  lbs. 

No.  colonies 

on  farms 

April  15,  1910 

;  Q 


O  oi  "^  oo  •--<'  o  o"  i/^'  ^o 


Csi\OOv00fC«*r^iC 


oc  1--  O  O  "*  lO  ■^ 


rc   :  CN  ^-  r^  CN 


OC  ic  ■^  O  O  O  -^  J^  r^i  r^i  tc  c>  <^  OC 

r^^-foC'-t-CNOrcr^'Or^)'^ 


OOt^oC-— <^r^O 


I  pfT   ^''crc"irrcrx"(>r't"Lrr-t'o"oc'o"fN 


CT; 


14  BEEKEEPIN(.      IX     THE     SOUTH 

weather  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  which  may  delay  cell  building, 
the  mating  of  queens,  and  the  rapid  building  of  colonies.  To 
locate  in  Dixie  for  queen  breeding,  it  would  be  the  advice  of  the 
author  to  go  south  of  the  line  mentioned.  This  was  the  advice 
of  Ben  G.  Dav^s,  H.  D.  Murry,  and  several  other  southern 
queen  breeders,  at  the  time  the  author  made  his  first  trips  to 
Dixie,  with  the  intention  of  becoming  a  southern  queen  bee 
breeder. 

If  the  motive  of  mo\ing  south  is  primarily  for  the  production 
of  bees,  either  for  the  nucleus  or  pound  package  trade,  then  by  all 
means  one  should  locate  as  far  south  as  is  possible.  It  probably 
would  not  be  advisable  for  a  beekeeper  to  locate  north  of  a  line 
which  might  be  drawn  through  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
Birmingham,  Alabama,  and  Fort  Worth,  Texas,  if  he  wishes  to 
engage  in  the  pound  package  business.  See  especially  charts  on 
winter  temperatures  at  these  points  in  the  chapter  on  "Winter- 
ing Bees  in  the  South."  E\en  at  these  points,  there  are  some 
years  when  unusual  weather  in  April  may  delay  the  shipment 
of  packages  for  se\eral  days.  Zero  temperatures  have  been 
recorded  near  Goldsboro,  North  Carolina,  Augusta,  Georgia, 
River  Junction,  Florida,  Alexandria,  Louisiana,  Waco,  Texas, 
and  El  Paso,  Texas.  If  one  is  going  south  to  engage  in  bee- 
keeping in  any  branch  which  primarily  requires  continued 
warm  weather  early  in  the  spring,  the  beekeeper  should  go 
down  into  the  real  South. 

Visit  the  Locality. 

If  beekeepers  from  other  paits  of  the  country  wish  to  locate  in 
Dixie  land,  they  should  by  all  means  make  a  careful  study  of 
the  average  annual  temperatures  and  rainfall,  for  a  period  of 
years,  at  the  point  of  interest.  This  information  is  obtainable 
from  the  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  at  Washington,  D.  C. 

Then  one  should  \isit  the  locality  he  has  in  mind  foi  at 
least  one  winter  if  possible,  before  mo\ing.  In  this  way  one 
may  study  local  conditions,  talk  with  local  beckee{)ers  and  in 
many  other  ways,  ascertain  whether  or  not  he  is  likely  to  make 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH  15 

a  go  of  the  move,  and  whether  or  not  he  will  like  the  com- 
munity into  which  he  settles.  Beekeepers  who  have  gone  south 
to  engage  in  our  industry  and  who  have  been  dissatisfied, 
have  only  themselves  to  blame  in  many  cases.  Insufficient 
investigation  of  every  feature  of  the  locality  selected  is  probably 
the  reason  for  most  of  the  ultimate  dissatisfaction  which  results. 
The  South  has  been  given  a  ''black  eye"  by  many  a  man  who 
went  down  there  chasing  a  "pot  of  gold,"  rather  than  a  rational 
proposition. 

Morley  Pettit's  Opinion. 

The  ultimate  opinion  that  may  be  voiced  by  some  northerners, 
was  summed  up  by  Morley  Pettit,  well  known  beekeeper  of 
Georgetown,  Ontario,  Canada,  in  the  April,  1919,  number  of  the 
"Domestic  Beekeeper."  After  spending  the  winter  in  Florida  he 
wrote:  "Outside  of  the  Appalachicola  districts  this  is  said  to 
be  one  of  the  best  honey  producing  districts  of  the  state;  but 
with  all  its  uncertainties,  strange  pests,  and  the  long  active 
season,  the  total  surplus  is  probably  no  more  than  we  get  in  a 
short  sharp  season  and  have  done  with  it.  This  northern  bee- 
keeper is  satisfied  to  raise  his  honey  and  make  his  money  in  good 
old  Ontario,  where  he  knows  what  to  expect,  and  where  Jack 
Frost  compels  bugs  and  bees  to  take  a  few  months  rest  in  the 
year.     Lake  Worth,  Florida,  February  21,  1919.* 

Treating  Him  * 'Handsome/' 

While  once  the  guest  of  a  well  known  Tennessee  beekeeper  the 
author  was  being  entertained  by  the  lady  of  the  household  with 
tales  of  exploits  of  her  brothers  in  the  war  between  states.  In 
mentioning  the  army  of  the  North,  the  hostess  always  said, 
"The  Enemy."  Knowing  the  army  of  the  North  would  always 
be  "The  Enemy"  to  this  good  woman,  nothing  was  thought 
of  the  term  until  the  young  man  of  the  household,  who  breeds 
good  queen  bees,  and  likes  a  joke  as  well,  said:  "Hawkins, 
do  you  know  I  was  fifteen  years  old  before  I  knew  that  'damn 
Yankee'  was  not  all  one  word?" 


16  BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 

What  You  May  Expect. 

So  it  you  would  ^o  ^cuth  lo  lake  uj)  beekeeping,  don't  impose 
yourself  upon  an  already  well  settled  bee  location.  Find  one  of 
the  many  locations  open,  investigate  it  thoroughly,  then  move 
down  and  determine  to  be  a  booster.  Your  business  is  certain 
to  grow  in  the  South,  if  your  choice  is  a  good  one.  The  South 
has  probably  made  more  progress  agriculturalh',  than  the  North 
in  the  past  five  years.  Careful  investigation  insures  success. 
Your  chosen  home  in  the  South  is  then  certain  to  make  of  you 
an  unqualified  booster  for  Dixie  beekeeping,  as  the  author  has 
long  since  become. 


CHAPTER  II. 
What  a  Beginner  Must  Learn. 

THE  fundamentals  of  beekeeping  are  simple.  Only  the  de- 
tails require  time  to  learn.  To  be  successful  in  beekeeping, 
one  must  accomplish  these  three  things:  1 — Build  up 
your  colonies  to  the  peak  of  storing  strength  coincident  with 
the  beginning  of  bloom  of  your  most  important  honey  plants; 
2 — Prevent  any  division  of  the  strength  or  storing  instinct  of 
the  colonies  thereafter;  3 — Conserve  the  strength  of  the  colony 
at  all  other  seasons  of  the  year,  to  prepare  again  for  No.  1  the 
next  bee  season.  Anyone  who  can  master  those  three  details 
will  be  a  successful  beekeeper  anywhere.  This  is  particularly 
true  of  the  South. 

There  are  several  ways  these  methods  can  be  learned  in  de- 
tail. One  is  to  work  for  a  season  in  the  bee  yard  of  a  successful 
beekeeper,  after  you  have  first  mastered  the  theory  of  bee- 
keeping. Another,  harder,  but  often  best  in  the  long  run,  is  to 
buy  a  few  bees  and  work  it  out  yourself,  with  the  aid  of  other 
beekeepers  and  by  attending  conventions  and  beekeeping  demon- 
strations. 

Building  Up  Colonies. 

Stimulating  colonies  is  a  good  deal  like  giving  a  man  medicine. 
If  the  conditions  are  right,  the  medicine  stimulates  the  body  to 
action.  If  conditions  are  wrong,  no  medicine  will  help.  So 
in  beekeeping,  one  must  supply  a  few  simple  conditions  and  let 
the  bees  do  the  rest.  No  colony  will  build  up  well  in  spring  to 
reach  proper  strength  at  the  right  time  without  a  young  queen. 
Therefore,  requeen  at  least  every  two  years.  No  colony  can 
build  up  if  not  supplied  with  sufficient  food,  either  natural  or 
artificial,  secured  the  fall  before,  to  last  through  the  period  of 
rest  and  until  natural  stores  are  available  again  in  spring.    There- 

17 


18 


BEEKRFPIXG     IX     THE     SOUTH 
\ 


Fig.  3.  A  relic  of  the  old  days.  Bees  in  box  hives  are  being  trans- 
ferred so  rapidly  that  in  many  localities  an  apiary  like  this  is  a  curi- 
osity. 

fore,  one  must  learn  to  gauge  the  amount  of  supplies  within  the 
hive  and  to  feed  the  bees  when  necessary.  No  colony  can  build 
up  properly  unless  the  queen  and  bees  have  ample  comb  room 
for  brood  and  surplus  honey.  Therefore,  one  must  learn  to  en- 
able the  bees  to  produce  really  good  combs  and  learn  how  to 
supply  them  at  the  right  time  to  expand  the  brood  nest  and  stor- 
age room.  Given  a  young  queen,  ample  stores  and  sufficient 
room,  the  swarming  problem  becomes  less.  The  proper  presen- 
tation of  these  necessities  to  the  bees  most  frequently  stops 
swarming. 

Preventing  Swarming. 

Of  as  much  importance  as  room,  stores,  and  a  young  queen,  is 
the  time  of  giving  this  additional  room  so  vital  to  swarm  preven- 
tion. A  beekeeper  should  figure  that  he  has  failed  in  the  case  of 
every  swarm  which  issues.  Giving  the  needed  brood  or  surplus 
room  too  late  is  certain  to  induce  swarming.  Every  beekeeper 
must  have  an  acquaintance  with  the  principal  honey  plants  of 


BEEKEEPING     IX      THE     SOUTH 


19 


his  locality  and  the  time  of  their  bloom.  When  this  is  available, 
he  can  tell  just  when  to  give  added  brood  room  and  can  gauge 
the  building  up  of  his  colonies  to  have  the  peak  of  this  expansion 
coincident  with  the  first  honey  flows.  The  added  surplus  room 
must  follow  then,  else  all  previous  efforts  are  lost.  The  method 
of  giving  this  additional  surplus  room,  especially  in  comb  honey 
production,  bears  vitally  on  the  success  of  swarm  prevention 

Getting  the  Maximum  Crop. 

Given  "strong  colonies  of  strong  bees,"  as  Dr.  Miller  says 
and  after  giving  the  bees  ample  brood  room  ard  the  first  storage 
room,  a  crop  failure  still  looms  ahead  for  the  beginner,  if  he  does 
not  gauge  the  speed  of  the  incoming  honey.  Too  much  surplus 
room  will  result  in  unfinished  sections;  too  little,  in  swarming 
and  a  loss  of  part  of  the  crop  which  might  have  been  secured. 
Xo  beekeeper   can   succeed   in   honey   production  or  in  swarm 


V'lg.    4.      A    modern    Texas    apiary    developed    from    two    box    hives. 


2U  BEEKKi:i'lN(.      IN      THE     SOUTH 

pre\ention,  if  he  tries  to  operate  his  bees  without  sufficient  sujx?rs 
and  hive  bodies.  Penurious  beekeepers  who  try  to  run  the 
season  through  with  only  two  supers,  juggHng  these  between 
the  hives  and  the  honey  house  for  filling  and  emptying,  are  in 
the  class  with  the  beekeeper  who  puts  on  one  super  and  who 
takes  it  off  only  in  the  "full  moon  in  June."  Sufficient  equipment 
is  absolutely  essential.  Better  run  fewer  colonies  with  ample 
equipment,  than  so  many  with  a  shortage  of  things  essential  to 
good  beekeeping  practice. 

Conserving  the  Bees. 

The  beekeeper's  "New  Year"  begins  with  the  cessation  of  the 
honey  flow  for  the  season.  His  efforts  from  then  on  gauge  far 
more  than  is  frequently  credited,  the  success  he  may  have  another 
season.  Toward  the  end  of  the  honey  flow  is  the  best  time  to 
requeen  colonies,  when  the  period  of  broodlessness  coincident 
with  requeening  does  not  interfere  with  the  strength  of  the 
colony  immediately  before  a  honey  flow.  This  is  also  a  time  to 
discourage  too  much  brood  rearing,  when  there  is  nothing  ahead 
to  demand  more  bees.  The  introduction  of  young  queens  insures 
brood  later,  in  the  fall,  when  ^oung  bees  are  so  essential  to  pro- 
duce a  strong  colony  to  live  through  the  period  of  rest,  whether 
winter  temperatures  are  low  or  not.  This  is  also  the  period  for 
removing  supers  and  preparing  the  bee  yard  for  another  season, 
as  well  as  preparing  the  honey  crop  for  the  market.  Cooperative 
marketing  associations  will  soon  enable  the  beekeeper  to  sell 
his  crop  at  a  fair  price  without  the  losses  incident  to  poor  sales- 
manship so  frequent  in  the  beekeeping  past. 

Wintering  the  Bees. 

Whether  the  beekeeper  be  in  a  land  where  snows  fall  and 
temperatures  drop  low  in  w'inter,  or  in  a  land  of  sunshine,  winter 
is  the  time  for  the  conservation  of  the  bees.  At  this  time  good 
beekeeping  makes  definite  plans  for  the  next  spring.  Ample 
stores  for  winter  and  the  succeeding  spring,  until  natural  honey 
is  available,  are  essential.     Space  for  the  bees  to  heat  and  care 


BEEKEEPING      EX      THE     SOUTH  21 

for  in  winter  should  be  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Remember  that 
a  temperature  of  57  F.,  requires  work  on  the  part  of  the  bees 
to  prevent  a  lower  temperature  in  their  cluster.  The  more  of 
this  work  they  do,  the  more  the  colony  loses  in  numbers  and  in 
the  vitality  of  its  individuals.  Have  good  hives,  tight,  water- 
proof covers,  reduced  entrances,  and  protection  by  fence  or 
trees,  against  the  prevailing  winds  of  winter  days.  If  your  part 
of  the  South  is  where  snow  falls  and  temperatures  drop  low, 
your  bees  might  profit  by  being  packed.  Send  for  the  govern- 
ment's free  bulletin  on  "Wintering  Bees  Outdoors." 

The  Theory  and  Practice. 

The  theories  of  successful  beekeeping  have  been  stated  in  the 
first  paragraph  of  this  chapter.  Learn  them  well  first.  This 
will  enable  you  to  separate  the  chaff  from  the  wheat  in  what  you 
read,  or  what  >ou  are  told  by  beekeepers  who  may  not  be  as  well 
posted  as  they  believe.  Given  the  mastered  theory,  the  prac- 
tice will  not  only  become  easy,  but  will  prove  the  most  interesting 
study  you  ever  attempted,  if  you  are  destined  to  be  a  beekeeper. 
If  you  are  not,  give  up  beekeeping  right  now.  There  are  already 
too  many  men  and  women  masquerading  under  the  title  "bee- 
keeper." 

Subscribe  for  bee  papers  and  get  one  or  two  of  the  better 
bee  books,  which  give  the  results  of  practice,  and  not  theory 
alone.  Attend  the  short  courses  for  beekeepers  and  witness 
demonstrations  in  handling  bees  made  by  the  bee  culture  ex- 
tension men.  If  there  are  no  such  meetings  near  you,  take  the 
initiative  and  arrange  for  some.  Begin  to  put  your  theories  into 
practice  modestly,  search  your  practices  for  a  confession  of 
fault  as  you  go.  Above  all,  remain  open-minded  about  your 
beekeeping  methods  and  you  will  be  sure  to  succeed.  In  any 
event,  invest  modestly  at  first  and  make  the  bees  keep  you. 


CHAPTER  III 
Apparatus  of  the  South. 

CONTRARY  to  what  might  be  expected,  the  needs  of  the 
beekeeper  in  the  South  are  quite  similar  to  the  needs  of  a 
beekeeper  in  the  North.  There  is  no  style  of  hive  which 
has  proved  better  for  all  conditions  in  the  South  than  the  stand- 
ard ten-frame  hive  sold  by  all  manufacturers.  If  there  is  any 
pointed  difference  in  the  needs  of  the  South  so  far  as  a  hive  is 
concerned,  it  is  that  the  hive  should  not  be  too  small.  The 
author  was  rather  surprised  to  find  at  first  that  the  ten-frame 
hive  was  perhaps  more  widely  distributed  and  used  in  the  South 
than  elsewhere  in  the  country.  Probably  the  reason  for  this  is 
because  extracted  honey  is  almost  universally  produced  through- 
out the  South  among  commercial  honey  producers.  This  is 
probably  due  to  the  difference  in  intensity  in  the  nectar  flows, 
especially  in  the  more  tropical  South,  where  longer,  lighter 
secretions  of  nectar  are  common.  However,  there  are  many 
locations  in  the  South  where  comb  honey  is  produced  and  many 
where  it  ought  to  be  produced,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  comb 
honey  always  brings  an  average  higher  price  in  normal  times, 
than  extracted  honey.  Even  for  comb  honey  there  is  no  neces- 
sity for  reducing  the  size  of  the  brood  chamber  for  southern  bee- 
keeping. 

Another  factor  which  has  probably  tended  to  gradually  in- 
crease the  use  of  the  large  brood  chamber  in  the  South,  is  that  in 
most  cases  more  honey  is  consumed  by  a  colony  of  bees  during 
southern  winters  than  would  be  the  case,  say  in  Illinois.  This 
is  not  due  to  cold  weather,  but  on  the  contrary,  to  the  warmer 
winter,  during  a  great  part  of  which  some  brood  rearing  may 
be  carried  on  and  the  stores  thus  be  rapidly  depleted.  There  are 
many  locations  in  the  South  where  the  honey  contained  in  one 
ten-frame  brood  chamber  in  the  fall  will  seldom  sustain  a  colony 
until  the  next  year's  surplus  nectar  flows.     This  is  true  of  the 

23 


24  BEEKEEPING     IN      THE     SOUTH 

author's  apiaries  in  the  vicinity  of  Dallas,  Texas,  and  in  parts  of 
Florida,  where  even  two  ten-frame  bodies  for  winter  at  times 
fail  to  supply  sufficient  honey.  On  the  Appalachicola  river  in 
Florida,  for  instance,  it  is  often  necessary  to  store  honey  for 
brood  use  the  next  year.  Many  southern  beekeepers  prefer  to 
store  away  the  sealed  combs  of  honey  rather  than  to  leave  too 
much  honey  on  the  hive.  If  left  where  the  bees  have  access  to  it, 
they  seem  to  get  that  "Millions  at  Our  House"  feeling  described 
by  G.  M.  Doolittle,  and  proceed  to  turn  it  into  brood  out  of 
season.  This  is  inadvisable  in  most  parts  of  Dixie,  since  the 
sustaining  honey  flows  often  come  many  weeks  after  the  begin- 
ning of  brood  rearing  is  possible.  Consequently  the  bees  might 
frequently  starve  if  left  to  their  own  lesources. 

A  Southern  Hive. 

There  have  been  numerous  attempts  to  invent  a  hive  which 
would  exactly  fulfill  southern  needs.  One  might  expect  to  find 
the  long  idea  hives  of  Poppleton  throughout  central  Florida 
where  he  lived  in  late  years,  and  the  Danzen baker  hive  popular 
throughout  the  vicinity  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  for  a  similar 
reason.  This  is  not  true.  The  opinion  of  good  beekeepers,  like 
the  choice  of  the  majority  in  American  political  life,  is  one  of  the 
safest  guides  to  value.  No  man  has  succeeded  in  making  up  a 
strictly  "southern"  hive. 

The  tendency  throughout  the  South,  whether  the  beekeeper 
runs  his  bees  for  comb  or  extracted  honey,  has  most  certainly 
been  toward  a  deeper  hive.  With  the  standard  size  hive  taking 
Hoffman  frames  popular  throughout  Dixie,  this  deepening  has 
often  been  accomplished  by  the  addition  of  another  brood  cham- 
ber, or  by  the  use  of  a  shallow  extracting  brood  super  above  or 
below  the  brood  chamber.  Although  this  nears  the  idea  intended 
in  the  use  of  the  once  popular  sectional  hive  in  parts  of  Texas, 
the  author  saw  but  comparatively  few  of  the  sectional  hives  there. 
The  tendency,  as  elsewhere,  was  to  add  another  full  brood  cham- 
ber. Whether  or  not  a  deeper  frame,  such  as  used  by  Dadant, 
to  combine  this  increased  brood  room  all  in  one  body  will  be 
popular  in  the  South  or  elsewhere,  is  problematical.     It  is  the 

Library 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


25 


opinion  of  the  author  that  this  style  of  hive  will  be  adopted  in 
the  North  long  before  the  South  accepts  it,  because  of  the  winter 
stores  problem.  The  need  of  greater  brood  room  later  in  the 
spring  is  mentioned  by  J.  J.  Wilder  of  Waycross,  Georgia,  in  the 
"Dixie  Beekeeper,"  page  twenty-two,  April,  1919.  He  advo- 
cates the  use  of  a  nine-frame  hive  and  the  addition  of  a  shallow 
extracting  super  later  in  spring.  Mr.  Wilder's  bees  in  the  south 
of  Georgia  are- run  both  for  comb  and  extracted  honey. 

I  The  Box  Hive. 

While  census  figures  show  that  there  are  more  colonies  of  bees 
in  the  South  than  in  the  North  and  West,  this  number  is  appre- 
ciably increased  by  the  number  of  box  hives  which  are  found 


Fig.  5.    A  modern  hive. 


26  BEEKEEPlNCx      IN       IHK     SOUTH 

throughout  Dixieland.  It  has  lx,'en  the  privilege  of  the  writer 
to  travel  in  the  Middle  West,  and  it  is  known  that  there  are  many 
box  hives  in  that  region  too.  However,  in  the  many  portions  of 
the  various  southern  states  where  there  are  practically  no  com- 
mercial honey  producers,  the  box  hives  far  exceed  the  number  of 
standard  hives.  However,  this  is  probably  the  case  in  any  lo- 
cality where  commercial  honey  producers  are  less  in  number.  In 
most  parts  of  the  South,  box  hives  containing  bees  are  valued  as 
highly  for  purposes  of  sale,  as  are  hives  of  modern  style.  This 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  there  may  seldom  have  been  anyone  locally 
who  has  personally  advocated  the  real  advantages  of  the  modern 
hive  whose  recommendation  was  valued.  Southern  beekeepers 
are  just  as  progressive  as  any  other  beekeepers,  where  oppor- 
tunity is  shown  them  to  make  a  change  for  the  better.  The 
work  of  the  federal  and  state  extension  service  has  offered  the 
best  medium  of  spreading  this  information  up  to  date.  It  will 
probably  always  continue  to  bear  a  strong  relation  to  the  prog- 
ress of  beekeeping  in  the  South. 

Making  a  Start. 

To  the  beginner  in  beekeeping  anywhere  in  the  South,  there 
is  little  to  be  taken  into  consideration  in  choosing  a  hive,  other 
than  there  is  elsewhere  in  the  country.  Probably  a  safe  choice 
for  the  South  as  a  w^hole  is  the  ten-frame  "standard"  hive, 
whether  for  the  production  of  comb  or  extracted  honey.  It  is 
necessary  to  have  one  hive  for  each  colony  of  bees  you  wish  to 
keep.  The  bees  may  be  gotten  by  purchasing  swarms,  trans- 
ferring bees  from  box  hives,  or  log  gums,  or  may  be  bought 
as  pound  packages  of  bees  or  nuclei  from  reliable  breeders  in  the 
South.  Nuclei  are  one  or  more  frames  of  brood,  honey,  and 
bees,  with  which  comes  a  queen.  One  then  has  the  nucleus  of  a 
colony,  and  this  may  be  put  into  a  hive,  and  under  favorable 
circumstances,  will  soon  increase  in  size  to  a  full-fledged  colony. 
Pound  packages  are  one  or  more  pounds  of  bees,  net  weight, 
without  combs,  which  arrive  accompanied  by  a  queen  bee,  and 
which  may  be  put  into  the  hive  which  has  been  prepared  for  them. 


BEEKEEPINC;     IX     THE     SOUTH  27 

This  book  is  not  intended  as  a  manual  of  beekeeping,  but  only 
to  differentiate  southern  beekeeping  conditions  from  those  of  the 
North.  Every  beginner  of  beekeeping  should  purchase  one  or 
more  of  the  standard  bee  books,  send  for  all  the  free  bulletins 
issued  by  the  United  States  Departm.ent  of  Agriculture  on  bee- 
keeping, and  discuss  with  local  beekeepers  the  best  methods  of 
making  a  start. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Making   a    Start. 

IT  IS  necessary  before  beginning  to  keep  bees  to  become 
as  familiar  with  the  care  and  habits  of  the  honey  bee  as  is 
possible.     The  more  one  knows  about  bees,  the  more  cer- 
tain one  is  to  succeed.     In  every  Hne  of  work,  it  is  the  specialist, 
who  is  best  acquainted  with  his  business,  who  reaps  a  harvest 
where  others  may  fail.    This  is  particularly  true  of  bee  culture. 

One  may  learn  the  essentials  of  bee  culture  from  a  study  of 
bee  books.  One  must  grasp  the  theory  before  beginning  to  keep 
bees,  since  it  is  necessary  to  know  why  certain  methods  are  used 
in  the  production  of  honey,  if  their  application  is  to  be  success- 
ful. An  excellent  way  to  gain  much  first  hand  knowledge,  is  to 
visit  the  yard  of  a  neighbor  beekeeper,  and  put  on  a  bee  veil, 
and  go  with  him  through  a  day's  work  in  the  apiary.  It  is  well, 
however,  since  not  all  beekeepers  are  good  beekeepers,  to  make  a 
study  of  the  work  by  studying  bee  culture  before  undertaking 
such  an  expedition.  If  you  know  when  the  beekeeper  is  right 
and  WTong  in  his  speculations  regarding  what  happens  in  the 
hive,  in  case  he  doesn't  really  know,  you  will  be  able  to  avoid 
absorbing  a  lot  of  bee  lore  which  you  may  have  to  unlearn. 

The  beginner  will  learn  much  more  from  handling  bees  than 
any  other  way,  and  first  hand  information  is  easiest  learned.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  learn  a  great  mass  of  statistical  and  rule  of 
thumb  plans,  to  be  a  successful  beekeeper.  Practical  beekeeping 
requires  a  simple  knowledge  of  a  few  fundamental  reasons  as  to 
why  bees  increase  and  protect  themselves  against  their  natural 
situations.  When  this  is  known,  practical  beekeeping  becomes 
applied  bee  behavior,  or  learning  how  to  shape  the  work  of  the 
bees  naturally  toward  your  own  ends.  When  you  have  fully 
grasped  these  fundamentals,  you  will  know  more  real  beekeeping 
than  many  beekeepers. 

29 


30  BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 

Start  in  Spring. 

The  best  time  to  start  with  bees  is  in  the  Spring  of  the  year. 
Then  the  bees  have  the  full  season  to  build  up  in,  to  prepare 
themselves  against  the  rigors  of  cold  weather,  and  to  return  to 
you  something  for  the  labors  of  caring  for  them. 

It  is  impossible  to  fully  guide  the  beginner  in  these  columns, 
as  the  space  is  limited.  Secure  from  the  United  States  Bee  Cul- 
ture Laboratory,  Department  of  Agriculture,  Washington,  D.  C, 
one  of  their  free  bulletins  on  bees  and  learn  to  recognize  the 
different  parts  of  a  hive  and  the  hive  inmates.  Study  the  dia- 
gram at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter.  If  one  wishes  to  invest  in 
a  bee  book,  all  right.  The  trouble  with  many  bee  books  is  that 
they  give  too  many  different  plans  for  the  same  work  and  go 
into  such  varied  details  that  the  beginner  is  lost  in  the  maze 
and  knows  not  where  to  start.  The  government  bulletins  make 
excellent  text  books,  since  they  treat  of  but  one  topic  at  a  time. 
By  all  means  one  should  subscribe  to  one  or  more  of  the  bee 
journals,  since  this  tends  to  keep  one  flush  with  bee  lore,  and 
abreast  of  the  times  on  beekeeping  topics  and  methods.  Never 
make  the  mistake  of  buying  a  lot  of  bees  before  you  have  learned 
the  essentials  of  beekeeping.  Failure  is  as  certain  as  death  in 
that  case. 

Beginner's  Needs  Are  Simple. 

The  needs  of  a  beginner  are  rather  simple,  depending  largely 
on  the  scale  which  marks  the  beginning.  No  beginner  should 
attempt  to  handle  bees  without  a  bee  veil,  which  protects  the 
face  from  stings.  The  more  timid  may  also  buy  bee  gloves  to 
protect  the  hands.  A  smoker  is  an  absolute  necessity  in  every 
apiary,  be  you  professional  or  beginner.  Bees  are  smoked  before 
handling,  by  driving  a  puff  or  two  of  smoke  from  rags  or  waste, 
into  the  hive  entrance.  When  the  cover  is  removed,  a  few  more 
puffs  to  the  tops  of  the  frames  follow.  This  makes  the  bees 
rush  to  fill  themselves  with  honey  and  to  forget  the  intruder, 
when  they  may  be  handled  without  stings,  if  care  is  used.  Every 
beekeeper  gets  stung  sometimes.    Careful  beekeepers  seldom  get 


BEEKEEPIXO     IX     THE     SOUTH 


31 


Fig.  6.     A  Virginia  swarm. 


32  BEEKEEPIX(;     IX     THE     SOUTH 

stung.  Your  gentleness  and  actions  with  tlie  bees  largely  deter- 
mine their  treatment  of  >ou.  A  bee  brush,  hi\e  tool  and  other 
articles  are  useful.  Get  a  supply  catalog  and  study  its  pages. 
There  is  a  wealth  of  information  in  the  pages  of  a  good  supply 
dealer's  catalog.  You  will  find  there  why  the  various  appliances 
are  used,  and  much  of  the  "how"  of  their  api)lication. 

If  swarms,  nuclei,  or  packages  of  bees  are  bought,  the  hives 
must  first  be  purchased,  set  up,  and  made  ready  for  the  bees. 
Delays  of  shipment  make  it  imperative  that  the  supplies  be  or- 
dered long  before  they  are  needed  for  the  bees.  Waiting  for  hi\'es 
with  the  bees  on  hand  means  their  certain  loss  to  you.  In  choos- 
ing hives,  it  is  well  to  avoid  fads.  The  ten-frame  so-called  "stan- 
dard" hive  is  the  standard  of  the  bee  world  of  today.  This  hive 
is  a  good  one  to  choose.  Do  not  choose  more  than  one  style  or 
size  of  hive.  Inability  to  interchange  parts  of  hives  is  a  nuisance 
in  the  apiary.  The  value  of  well  made  goods  cannot  be  over- 
estimated, and  it  is  well  worth  while  to  pay  a  price  which  will 
bring  3'ou  materials  to  last  a  lifetime,  rather  than  flimsy,  shoddy 
goods  at  a  lower  price. 

Comb  or  Extracted  Honey? 

Every  beginner  is  confronted  with  the  problem  of  whether 
or  not  to  begin  with  comb  honey  or  extracted  ("strained") 
honey  production.  Here  are  some  simple  rules  for  guidance. 
What  does  your  grocer  sell  best?  He  is  most  willing  to  buy  that. 
Find  out.  Then  learn  what  your  principal  nectar  secreting  plants 
are,  and  whether  or  not  they  yield  in  short,  intense  flows,  or 
give  nectar  over  long,  slow  periods.  Short,  sharp  flows  of  light 
colored  nectar  are  excellent  for  section  honey.  Slower  flows, 
and  dark  colored  nectar,  are  best  for  extracted  honey.  The 
adoption  of  either  should  be  governed  also  by  what  you  can  sell 
best  in  your  locality.  Pick  out  your  hive  supers  to  correspond. 
Most  beginners  in  the  past  have  begun  with  comb  honey,  be- 
cause the  initial  expense  was  less.  Comb  honey  usually  sells  for 
more  on  the  market  than  other  styles  of  honey  packages.  How- 
ever, it  requires  a  l)etter  beekeejxjr  to  produce  comb  honey  than 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


33 


extracted,  and  the  choice  should  be  largely  your  own.  By 
choosing  supers  for  your  hive  which  are  made  to  take  either  comb 
or  extracted  honey  appliances,  the  cost  is  less  for  a  later  change 
which  may  api3ear  advisable. 

Choosing  Paraphernalia. 

After  a  good  hive  has  been  found,  the  beginner  should  insist 
on  Italian  or  yellow  bees,  if  it  is  possible  to  get  them.  They 
have  proved  in  the  hands  of  American  beekeepers,  to  be  the 
best  from  all  points.  They  are  gentler,  more  resistant  to  the  bee 
disease  European  foul  brood,  active  against  the  inroads  of  wax 
moths  and  are  good  workers.  No  beginner  should  fail  to  use 
full  sheets  of  bee  comb  foundation  in  the  lower  part  of  the  hives, 
where  the  bees  live  and  rear  their  brood.  Foundation  should 
also  be  used  in  the  surplus  boxes,  but  the  use  of  full  sheets  is 
not  so  necessary  there.     A  study  of  catalogs  and  bulletirs  will 


Fig. 


Mrs.    Grace    Allen's    backlot    bees,    Nashville,    Tenn. 


34  BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 

con\ince   you   of    the    value    (jf    using   comb    foundation,    even 
though  it  costs  more  at  first. 

The  location  of  the  bee  yard  may  be  determined  after  a  study 
of  the  bulletins  as  to  why  partly  shaded  places,  facing  away  from 
the  prevailing  winds  and  toward  the  sunlight,  are  best.  The 
style  of  covers,  hive  stands,  and  other  minor  details  are  more  a 
matter  of  individual  choice.  In  every  move  you  make  toward 
becoming  a  beekeeper,  find  out  first  why  you  do  everything,  and 
then  you  will  make  fewer  mistakes.  When  bees  refuse  to  do 
what  we  think  they  should  do  under  given  circumstances,  usually 
it  is  the  beekeeper  who  is  at  fault,  be  he  beginner  or  expert. 

A  Means   of   Study. 

Many  of  the  colleges  of  agriculture  in  the  several  states  are 
annually  giving  short  courses  in  bee  culture.  The  federal  and 
state  departments  of  agriculture  have  several  men  in  the  field 
teaching  beekeeping.  Find  out  about  these  and  take  advantage 
of  them.  They  are  usually  men  who  know  what  they  are  talking 
about,  and  their  guidance  will  be  valuable  to  you  as  a  beginner. 

If  study,  communion  with  good  beekeepers,  careful  examina- 
tion of  bee  beha\'ior  and  applied  beekeeping  do  not  interest  you, 
don't  start  beekeeping  under  any  circumstances.  You  are 
destined  to  fail  without  them.  The  beekeeper  who  doesn't 
care,  and  who  will  not  learn  is  already  a  curse  of  beekeeping, 
keeping  down  honey  prices,  spreading  bee  diseases  by  careless- 
ness and  ignorance.  It  seldom  pays  to  do  anything  unless 
you  will  do  it  well.  If  you  do  not  intend  to  be  a  good  beekeeper, 
do  not  venture  into  the  field  at  all.  That  is  only  justice  toward 
those  you  may  hurt  unintentionally,  not  to  speak  of  your  own 
financial  loss  and  the  eventual  loss  of  vour  own  self-esteem. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Seasons  in  the  South. 

PRACTICAL  bee  culture  everywhere  is  largely  an  or- 
ganized system  of  beekeeping  manipulations.  It  should 
be  also  the  study  of  bee  behavior.  Since  the  condition  of 
the  bees  influences  largely  what  the  beekeeper  must  do  at  the 
time,  bee  culture  in  the  South  differs  only  slightly  from  the  same 
science  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  Any  difference  in  bee 
culture  in  the  South,  from  the  same  science  elsewhere,  is  only 
because  of  the  difference  in  the  exact  time  when  most  of  the 
common  manipulations  of  bee  culture  must  be  attended  to.  The 
more  carefully  one  studies  bee  culture  methods  in  vogue  among 


Fig.  8.      It  is  necessary  to  guard  against  high  water  in  many  desirable  locations 

35 


36 


BEEKEEPIXC.      IX      THE     SOITH 


better  beekeeix^rs  in  Dixie,  the  more  one  is  impressed  \vilh  the 
fact  that  methods  practiced  there  are  common  in  their  funda- 
mentals. There  appears  to  be  no  such  entirely  different  system 
of  bee  culture  in  the  South,  as  beekeepers  in  other  parts  of  the 
country  might  supi)ose.  The  prime  differences,  as  they  appear 
to  the  author,  result  from  the  prolonged  seasons  when  manipu- 
lations common  at  certain  times  only  in  the  North,  may  be  com- 
mon several  times  during  the  season  in  the  South.  If  you  are  a 
good  beekeeper  in  the  North,  you  can  be  a  good  beekeeper  in 
the  South,  pro\iding you  pay  attention  to  the  difference  in  honey 
sources,  and  the  influence  of  these  upon  the  bees. 


Fig.    9.      Apiary  of  V.  J.  Tluillt-n  in  Alabama 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


37 


Fig.    10.      A  summer  meeting  of  Tennessee  beekeepers. 


A  Primary  Difference, 


In  the  North  the  beekeeping  calendar  may  be  readily  divided 
into  two  parts,  the  season  of  preparation,  and  the  season  of  honey 
flow.  In  the  South,  speaking  of  the  South  as  a  whole,  this  is 
not  quite  so  feasible.  A  primary  difference  is  in  the  much  shorter 
season  of  inactivity  and  the  much  longer  season  during  which 
bees  rear  brood.  An  additional  important  point  in  connection 
with  the  season  during  which  bees  may  rear  brood  follows: 
Bees  in  parts  of  the  South  often  begin  rearing  brood  weeks  be- 
fore the  main  honey  flow.  They  may  swarm,  become  impover- 
ished for  lack  of  stores  and  bring  about  unusual  conditions  at 
seN'eral  seasons  of  the  year,  which  the  beekeeper  of  the  North 
is  seldom  accustomed  to  meet  but  once  during  the  season. 


38  BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 

Many  beekeepers  have  been  forced  to  cope  with  such  a  situa- 
tion as  a  honey  dearth  for  a  week  or  more  between  two  honey 
flows.  This  situation  may  face  a  beekeeper  in  certain  parts  of 
the  South,  half  a  dozen  times  in  a  season.  Then  there  are  some 
few  locations  in  the  .South  where  there  is  seldom  ever  a  honey 
flow  in  spring,  sufficient  to  more  than  sustain  the  bees.  Naturally 
the  bees  are  slow  to  build  up  in  spring  and  may  often  face  star- 
vation unexpectedly,  with  the  speedy  use  of  their  honey  for  brood. 
There  is  one  offset  to  these  situations.  Honey  flows  in  the  South 
are  usually  longer  than  in  the  clover,  buckwheat  or  alfalfa  regions 
of  this  country.  Otherwise  bees  might  seldom  get  in  shape  in 
time  for  a  honey  flow  in  some  of  these  southern  localities.  To 
anyone  who  has  tried  to  build  up  weak  colonies,  with  sugar 
stores  alone  when  all  colonies  in  the  yard  were  weak,  and  when 
but  little  natural  pollen  was  available, — that  person  knows  what 
the  beekeeper  faces  in  such  "late"  locations  of  the  South.  How- 
ever, in  many  sections  the  reverse  is  true.  The  problems  become, 
in  most  cases,  to  find  plans  to  pre\c«nt  too  rapid  building  up  and 
to  prevent  excessi\e  swarming.  That  remains  largely  a  problem, 
except  for  the  shippers  of  combless  packages  or  the  man  who 
wants  increase. 

The  "High"  Spots. 

Such  a  type  of  ho-ney  flows,  which  might  be  dubbed  "languid" 
is  not  without  exception.  There  are  a  few  locations  in  the 
South  where  the  entire  surplus  honey  crop  of  the  locality  is 
harvested  in  a  few  days.  The  Appalachicola  River  region 
in  Florida  is  one  of  these.  Here  titi  furnishes  some  stimulation. 
Black  and  white  tupelo  follow  immediately  in  February  and 
March  and  furnish  the  total  surplus  crop,  blooming  only  a  few 
weeks  altogether.  To  see  bees  working  tupelo  in  this  region  is  an 
inspiration.  They  go  "honey  crazy."  So  great  is  the  secretion 
of  nectar  that  but  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  overstocking 
any  tupelo  location  while  the  flow  is  on.  Rather  the  beekeepers 
there  have  tried  to  estimate  how  much  of  the  nectar  goes  to 
waste. 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 


39 


Then  there  are  other  locations  where  there  are  one  or  more 
short,  sharp  flows  and  one  or  more  longer,  slower  flows  of  nectar, 
during  the  several  months  of  the  season.  In  some  of  these,  comb 
honey  is  produced  during  the  heavy  flows,  and  extracted  honey 
during  the  lighter  flows.  The  partridge  pea  region  of  south 
Georgia  and  north  Florida  is  one  of  these  locations.  Together 
with  gallberry,  tupelo,  and  some  other  nectar  sources,  the  bee- 
keeper is  enabled  to  run  for  both  comb  and  extracted  honey. 
This  practice  has  pro\ed  quite  sensible  when  the  usual  price  of 
comb  honey  is  considered. 

A  Changing  Prospect. 

There  are  so  many  difterent  kinds  of  soils,  honey  plants,  cli- 
mates, and  peculiar  conditions  found  in  the  South  as  a  whole. 


Fig.  11.     J.  J.  Wilder  of  "Dixie  Beekeeper.' 


40 


BEEKEEPINC;     IX     THE     SOUTH 


that  it  is  impossible  to  write  eiccumtel>'  of  conditions  that  will 
apply  widely.  These  conditions  necessitate  different  jx^riods  for 
the  application  of  the  common  manipulations  of  bee  culture, 
bring  up  the  old  explanation  of  "locality."  But  the  best  prac- 
tices do  not  have  to  vary  materially.  Rather  their  time  of 
application  varies. 

Of  this  situation,  J.J.  Wilder  says:  "Starting  at  the  highest 
point  of  our  country,  along  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  and 
gradually  sloping  off  down  to  sea  level  out  along  the  great  coast 
region,  we  have  all  kinds  of  climate  from  the  most  rigid  to  the 
most  mild.  We  may  have  some  winter  problems  in  the  most 
rigid  sections  but  none  elsewhere." 

The  statement  concerning  the  winter  problem,  except  as  it 
applies  from  Florida  to  Mexico,  along  the  gulf  coast  only,  is 
open  to  debate.  This  is  a  question  upon  which  but  few  southern 
beekeepers  agree.  There  certainly  can  be  room  for  improve- 
ment in  the  practices  of  wintering  common  in  many  parts  of  the 
South  (see  chapter  on  "Wintering").  The  author  has  never  been 
convinced  that  lhere  was  not  some  better  beekeeping  practice 


li.       DAILY  TEMPERATURES  RELATIVT   TO   57«F.    AT    LOUISVILLE.    KEI.'Ti.ICKY. 

W    >wco^     Ckf^       ">^*^       ^V— «-       3-X^    CUc^  Jh^^^tLJrt^  (?<ZAty^    i9/y 


Only  43  days  during  the  entire  eeaeon 
the  t 


en  at  eone  time 
perature  did  not  fall  below  57»F.  Based  on  U.S. 
Weather  Bureau  reoorde.   Courtesy  R.P.Dletzman, Loulevllle. 
Lowest  teiiperatur?  never  above  57»F.  In  Jan. Fee. '.'ov. Deo. 


Fig.  12.      Daily  Temperatures  at   Louisville,   Kentucky. 


BEEKEEPIXC;      IX      THE     SOUTH 


41 


i 

U   S.  DEPABTMENT    OF  AGRICULTUBE.    WEATiiiiiK   BUREAU. 
Cbarles  F.  MarTln,  Ohi«t 

,       l^o^^t  TenywrafillSI  Bs§j^Obs«rved  (FtOireaheiti.           _  /     y     i 

«« 

v_^ 

,^'       y  ■  /' 

-T\^ 

,--— ^ -,                                                             .       ■                                       /                            x-^*^^"^ 

/ '                  ■•    ■■                       ^      ^^ — ^-  ^'^"^     x^ 

^^--^--         --■-V         -y^-r-/' >^     '       ■' 

-^        .  V..-^-""^ ..         '~'      ■          .  : 

v^^ 

x-x^^^^^^:^- — -—-__--..—-'"      /-- 

...  ^^"'^- V  ^  '     ■"     7"'^    '^--^^^".^c^   -^;  "■•x 

' 

Fig.  13.     Chart  showing  lowest  temperatures. 

which  could  be  worked  out  in  parts  of  the  South,  than  to  winter 
bees  outdoors  without  protection  and  often  with  one  or  more 
supers  on,  where  the  snow  may  often  be  six  inches  deep  for  a  week 
or  two  in  winter.  There  is  no  frostless  winter  in  the  South  until 
one  goes  very  far  south.  There  are  few  winters  in  the  South 
when  snow  does  not  fall  throughout  West  Virginia,  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma.  The  writer  has 
seen  snow  near  Pensacola,  Florida,  Shreveport,  Louisiana,  and 
in  Dallas,  Texas.  The  best  beekeeping  practice  is  the  one  which 
cares  for  all  eventualities.  Certainly  there  may  be  a  wintering 
system  worked  out  for  the  South,  which  will 'protect  in  extremes, 
and  which  can  be  turned  to  additional  advantage  in  the  means. 
No  beekeeper  who  is  a  thinker  will  deny  that. 

Honey  for  Winter. 

There  have  been  very  few  of  the  many  localities  visited  by 
the  author,  where  it  is  often  necessary  to  feed  bees  in  fall  to 
provide  sufficient  winter  stores.    It  is  our  opinion  that  this  is  one 


42 


BEEKEEPIXG     IX     THE     SOUTH 


of  the  dominant  differences  between  many  bee  ranges  in  the 
North  and  in  the  South.  In  many  beekeeping  localities  in  the 
South,  there  are  good  fall  flows  of  nectar,  which  tend  to  put 
bees  in  good  shape  for  the  coming  season  of  inactivity.  Of  more 
import,  it  tends  to  put  them  in  good  condition  for  the  longer 
season  of  spring  activity,  when  there  may  be  little  nectar  avail- 
able, even  in  quantities  to  care  for  brood  rearing. 

Migration. 

In  a  number  of  localities  in  the  South,  migration  is  practiced 
with  some  success.  However,  the  great  migration  from  South 
to  North  has  never  proved  out  for  southerners,  any  more  than 
it  has  for  beekeepers  of  the  North. 

One  of  these  localities  may  be  on  any  of  the  navigable  rivers 
in  the  far  South,  where  a  good  sized  launch  may  go  well  up  into 
a  different  type  of  country  than  that  which  may  be  found  on  the 
coast.  Gus  Hensler,  who  lives  at  Wewahitchka,  Florida,  told 
the  author  he  could  take  bees  up  the  Appalachicola  River  from 
his  tupelo  locations  and  locate  them  in  the  regions  of  southern 


Fig.  14.      A  Winter  Snow  in  Tennessee.      (Photo  by   Grace  Allen) 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH  43 

Georgia  and  Alabama  to  a  great  advantage.  By  moving  up  there 
along  in  early  fall,  he  could  get  sufficient  honey  in  many  years, 
to  draw  out  one  or  two  sets  of  foundation  into  combs  and  to  fre- 
quently get  twenty  or  thirty  pounds  of  surplus  honey  to  the 
colony.  The  value  of  combs  never  appears  so  pre-eminent  to 
the  beekeeper  as  in  such  a  location  as  on  the  Appalachicola  River 
where  the  principal  feature  of  getting  a  tui^elo  honey  crop  is  to 
supply  enough  ready  built  combs. 

Further  south  in  Florida,  on  the  east  coast,  at  Miami,  the 
author  met  several  men  who  said  they  made  a  success  of  moving 
their  l)ees  down  among  the  Keys  off  the  coast,  where  they  could 
take  advantage  of  valuable  nectar  sources,  such  as  black  ma- 
grove.  This  also  proved  to  be  the  case  on  the  west  coast  in  the 
vicinity  of  Ft.  M^'ers.  However,  no  one  was  met  who  had  made 
a  great  success  of  moving  bees  on  the  Mississippi,  the  Red,  the 
Missouri,  or  any  of  the  other  main  water  arteries  of  the  South. 
Bees  can  undoubtedly  be  moved  to  advantage  in  the  swamp 
regions  in  many  cases.  There  is  probably  no  nicer  means  of 
moving  bees  than  on  a  quiet,  steady  launch.  But  it's  all  off 
when  the  "blows"  come  up  suddenly.  One  beekeeper  at  Pensa- 
cola,  Florida,  recently  lost  a  launch,  bees,  and  a  good  share  of 
his  season's  honey  crop  in  a  squall  of  wind  which  caught  him 
unawares  in  Pensacola  Bay. 


CHAPTER  VI 
Wintering  Bees  in  the  South. 

THE  wintering  of  bees  in  the  South  is  easiest  to  under- 
stand, if  viewed  from  three  standpoints:     namely,  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  beekeepers  who  live  in  the  tropics, 
in  the  alluvial  region  and  in  the  mountain  sections.    Viewed  in 
this  w^ay,  the  problem  is  as  different  in  the  three  belts  named  as  it 
possibly  could  be. 

For  the  sake  of  convenience  in  considering  the  winter  problem 
of  the  southern  beekeeper,  let  us  divide  the  territory  into  the  three 
belts  named  above,  which  practically  coincide  with  the  divisions 
cited  in  the  chapter  on  honey  sources.  This  will  give  us  a  narrow 
belt  along  the  gulf  coast,  touching  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi 
and  Louisiana,  and  widening  out  at  either  end  to  take  in  most  of 
Florida  and  the  great  region  of  south  Texas.  In  that  territory 
the  problem  is  not  one  of  low  temperatures,  but  of  working 
out  feasible  methods  to  solve  the  problems  of  insect  pests,  winter 
stores  and  increase,  during  the  very  short  period  of  inactivity  on 
the  part  of  the  queen,  which  nevertheless  depletes  the  numerical 
strength  of  the  colonies.  The  problem  there  is  altogether  one  of 
combating  pests  and  supplying  stores,  rather  than  one  of  com- 
bating the  effect  of  low  temperatures. 

Many  beekeepers  have  complained  to  the  writer  that  they  had 
great  difficulty  in  keeping  moths  out  of  empty  combs  during  this 
period,  even  when  these  combs  are  left  with  the  bees.  In  parts  of 
Florida  the  writer  has  seen  frames  of  foundation  or  empty  combs 
in  hives  of  bees  taken  possession  of  during  winter  months  by  ants 
and  mud  wasps,  until  in  some  cases  the  combs  were  ruined.  In 
some  cases  this  has  been  obviated  by  setting  hive  stands  in 
troughs  filled  with  oil  or  water,  but  where  the  mud  wasps  are 
considered,  the  problem  is  still  largely  to  be  solved.  Small 
entrances  do  not  always  completely  do  away  with  such  condi- 
tions.    Frames  of  foundation  seem  to  l)e  particularly  desired  by 

45- 


46 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


the  wasps.  So  far  as  is  known  to  the  writer,  these  conditions 
do  not  applv  much  to  southwest  Texas,  except  that  in  certain 
localities,  the  problem  of  combating  the  ants  often  necessitates 
tracing  them  to  their  nests  and  the  use  of  the  spade,  fire  and 
carbon  disulphide  to  eradicate  them.  Even  with  these  agencies, 
this  remains  a  hard  problem. 

The  problem  of  winter  stores  is  pertinent  at  many  times,  both 
in  Florida  and  west  Texas,  perhaps  more  so  in  the  latter  region, 
because  of  the  frequent  drouths,  when  no  material  natural  sources 
of  nectar  may  be  available  for  months.  In  south  Florida  there  is 
usually  some  source  of  nectar  at  every  season,  and  fresh  nectar 
may  often  be  found  in  the  brood  combs  in  varying  quantities  at 
every  month  of  the  vear.  In  Texas  the  problem  becomes  one  of 
storing  or  feeding  back  honey,  if  early  sources  of  nectar  such  as 
huajilla,  catclaw,  cactus  and  similar  flowers  fail.  The  food  supply 
problem  is  not  so  hard  to  solve,  however,  unless  the  beekeeper 
goes  through  a  period  of  drouth  extending  over  many  monlhb, 
iruch  as  was  the  case  of  Texas  in  1916-17. 

The  Alluvial  Regions. 

Extending  north  of  this  tropical  belt  well  up  into  the  foothills 
of  the  mountains  in  north  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Arkan- 
sas and  Oklahoma,  is  a  region  of  early  activity  on  the  part  of 
the  bees,  frequently  accompanied  by  only  light  flows  of  nectar, 
until  several  months  after  brood  rearing  may  begin.  Some 
beekeepers  in  this  region  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  early 
surplus  flows,  as  is  usually  the  case  in  northern  Louisiana,  for 
instance.  Otherwise  the  colonies  often  reach  swarming  strength 
several  weeks  before  a  source  of  surplus  nectar  may  be  available. 
Holding  the  numerical  strength  of  the  colony  intact  where  no  in- 
crease is  desired,  is  then  a  problem  indeed.  Similarly  the  ex- 
cessive use  of  stores  to  rear  this  brood  when  nectar  is  scarce  often 
makes  the  food  supply  an  equally  important  problem.  Most 
beekeepers  in  this  region  are  against  any  sort  of  winter  protection 
as  it  is  understood  bv  northern  beekeepers.  With  no  means  ot 
using  the  bees,  wh'ch  would  be  raised  here  out  of  season  in  m- 


BEEKEEPING 


X     THE     SOUTH 


47 


creased  numbers,  under  northern  winter  j^rotection,  who  shall 
say  that  they  are  not  right? 

The  winter  problem  has  been  long  considered  from  the  tem- 
perature standpoint  only.  In  this  case  the  rule  of  temperature 
alone  does  not  apply  always.  Gauged  only  by  temperatures, 
the  packing  of  bees  in  winter  cases  would  be  proper  in  most 
parts  of  this  belt.  Note  that  the  U.  S.  Weather  Bureau  reports 
that  a  temperature  of  zero  has  been  recorded  as  far  south  as 
Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  Flomaton,  Alabama,  Natchez,  Missis- 
sippi, Natchitoches,  Louisiana,  Waco  and  El  Paso,  Texas. 

However,  the  average  beekeeper  in  this  region,  when  heavy 
protection  is  given  against  his  normal  winter  temperatures, 
finds  his  colonies  at  swarming  strength  several  weeks  before  they 
would  be  otherwise,  and  too  strong  a  number  of  weeks  before 
he  has  available  a  surplus  source  of  nectar.  Consequently,  heavy 
winter  protection  for  this  belt  is  a  mooted  question. 


ig.  15.      It  is  a  common  practice  to  winter  the  bees  with  supers  on  the  hives 
to  guard  against  moths. 


48  BEEKEEriNG     IN"     THE     SOUTH 


^.<'" 


■1 


ff 


I 


\ :;' 


'.ii^^CSk^2^,ds^.jA^i.^'''^l.^  Z .1:  -^IkZtjLs:*. 


Fig.    16.      A    West    Virginia   apiary   in    double    walled    hives. 

The  Mountain  Region. 

North  of  this  alluvial  country  begin  the  mountains  of  the 
South,  and  in  most  parts  of  Maryland,  West  Virginia,  Mrginia, 
North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  Arkansas,  and  Oklahoma, 
the  proposition  of  heavier  winter  protection  deserves  the  serious 
attention  of  the  beekeepers.  It  has  been  customary  for  beekeep- 
ers of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Oklahoma  to  assert  that  such 
a  practice  was  wholly  unnecessary.  The  truth  of  the  proposition 
will  never  be  known  until  the  practice  has  been  tried  out  on  many 
colonies  for  a  period  of  years  and  the  results  in  honey  production 
compared  with  colonies  not  so  protected.  Such  an  experiment 
is  now  being  carried  on  in  a  small  way  by  Mrs.  Armstrong  (Grace) 
Allen  at  Nashville,  Tennessee,  with  results  so  far  not  particularly 
favorable  to  heavy  packing.  However  the  test  is  far  from  com- 
plete, and  the  best  feature  of  Mrs.  Allen's  work  is  her  open- 
mindedness  on  the  proposition.  The  winters  and  the  honey 
plants  in  much  of  this  section  approximate  in  source,  tempera- 
tures and  seasons,  the  white  clover  belt  of  the  North,  so  that  it 
would  seem  that  some  packing  might  pay.     It  is  certain  from  the 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 


49 


census,  from  reports  of  extension  men  and  from  other  reliable 
sources,  that  winter  losses  of  this  region  are  frequently  appalling. 
In  the  portion  of  this  region  embraced  in  the  Appalachian  moun- 
tains, spring  losses  are  frequently  enormous,  due  to  European 
foulbrood  ravages.  However,  this  disease  should  be  considered 
as  an  effect  and  not  a  cause  in  this  case,  since  we  know  weak 
colonics  are  more  susceptible  and  less  resistant  to  European 
foulbrood  than  strong  colonies.  With  great  losses  in  numerical 
strength  certain  among  many  of  the  colonies  of  this  region  which 
usually  are  not  adequately  protected,  European  foulbrood  finds 
a  ready  and  fertile  area  for  its  deadly  work. 

Temperatures  here  are  good  indicators  of  the  need  of  protec- 
tion, since  swarming  time  and  honey  flows  approximate  those  of 
the  white  clover  belt.  The  beekeeper  here  has  a  different  prob- 
lem  than   in   the   alluvial   regions,   where   late   flows  and   early 


i  iji.  17.      By  rail  and  boat  to  Florida    (F.  W.  Somniei  held,  Ul 


iio;. 


50  BEEKEEPINi.      IX     THE     SOUTH 

swarming  are  common.  An  instance  of  temperatures  in  the 
relation  to  57°  F.,  the  critical  temperature  at  which  bees  have 
to  begin  clustering  in  the  hive  to  continue  heat  and  life,  was 
brought  out  at  a  meeting  of  the  Kentucky  State  Beekeepers 
Association  at  Lexington.  The  association  president,  Hon. 
Richard  Priest  Dietzman,  showed  a  chart  taken  from  the  U.  S. 
Weather  Bureau  records,  for  1917  at  Louis\ille.  There  were  in 
1917  but  sixty-nine  consecutive  days  during  which  the  tempera- 
ture did  not  at  vSome  time  go  below  57  F.  The  value  of  adequate 
protection  in  such  a  locality  is  evident.      (See  Page  40.) 

What  Is  Protection? 

Adequate  wmter  protection  need  not  mean  in  all  southern 
locations  the  use  of  heavy  packing.  It  always  means  first  the 
several  other  necessities,  which  are  too  often  considered  to  be 
minor.  Of  prime  importance  is  a  vigorous  queen  to  insure  many 
young  bees  in  the  hive  in  the  fall.  Next  is  the  supply  of  honey, 
which  should  be  adequate  to  keep  the  colony  in  seasonable  con- 
dition from  the  end  of  the  honey  flow  one  year  to  the  beginning 
of  the  honey  flow  the  next,  whether  or  not  all  of  it  is  left  on  the 
hive  in  the  fall. 

Next  is  the  hive.  Too  many  leaky  covers,  loose  bottom  boards, 
hives  set  on  the  cold  ground  and  similar  faults  are  frequent  among 
our  fraternity.  Too  many  supers  should  not  be  left  on  the  hi\e, 
even  in  the  South.  Why  heat  the  "spare  rooms"  when  there  are 
no  "guests?"  The  location  of  the  hives  in  winter  in  relation  to 
moisture  and  wind  protection  is  important,  as  is  the  use  of  a 
small  entrance. 

When  all  these  things  have  first  been  supplied,  the  need  of 
packing  is  not  great,  in  parts  of  the  South.  Too  many  bee- 
keepers do  not  supply  them.  Even  packing  will  not  remedy  all 
mistakes  on  the  part  of  the  beekeeper.  Constant  attention  to 
little  details  leads  to  beekeeping  success. 

Sources  of  Winter  Supplies. 

This  feature  of  successful  wintering  in  the  North  is  not  so 
pertinent  a  problem  in  the  South.    With  a  greater  flow  of  honey 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH  51 

dew  and  similar  poor  winter  foods  available  for  bees  in  many 
parts  of  the  South,  this  is  pro\'identially  offset  by  the  fact  that 
there  are  usually  more  frequent  periods  when  the  bees  may  fly 
during  the  winter.  In  parts  of  the  South  where  cane  grinding 
goes  on,  great  quantities  of  cane  juice  are  often  appropriated  by 
the  bees,  but  without  serious  effects  in  most  cases,  because  of 
the  much  shorter  period  of  winter  confinement  in  the  hive. 

In  the  regions  of  Kentucky,  West  Virginia,  Mrginia  and  Mary- 
land, there  are  areas  where  asters  are  found  flowering  in  the 
fall,  in  vast  beds  on  the  hillsides.  There  is  as  yet  but  little 
evidence  that  the  winter  losses  of  this  territory  may  be  attributed 
solely  to  aster  honey  for  winter  stores.  It  is  probable  that  aster 
honey  makes  an  excellent  winter  food  for  bees  in  most  parts  of 
the  country  from  the  clover  belt  south.  No  trouble  was  ever 
experienced  with  this  winter  food  in  Illinois,  Texas,  or  Florida,  by 
bees  owned  by  the  writer  and  it  is  possible  that  the  humble  aster 
has  been  blamed  for  a  lot  of  winter  troubles  really  due  to  other 
causes. 

Successful  Methods. 

To  winter  bees  successfully  in  the  vSouth,  especially  where 
lower  temperatures  are  recorded,  one  must  know  well  the  normal 
seasons  and  honey  flows.  The  question  of  more  protection  than 
is  now  given  bees  in  the  South  during  winter  is  one  for  experi- 
ment, and  this  must  be  done  in  the  South.  Open  minded  beekeep- 
ers there  can  do  a  great  service  for  beekeeping.  Narrow  minded 
beekeepers  never  do  any  good  anywhere. 

Tests  Are  Best. 

E.  R.  Root  is  quoted  as  saying  of  good  winter  protection: 
"We  believe  this  advice  is  as  valuable  for  beemen  of  the  South, 
even  in  Florida,  as  it  is  further  north,  especially  so  in  November, 
December,  January  and  February.  In  the  latter  two  months, 
bees  need  it  for  the  sake  of  early  breeding,  the  two  former  for 
the  sake  of  the  life  of  the  bees  and  the  conservation  of  honey." 

The  writer  does  not  mean  to  unreservedly  recommend  heavy 
winter  packing  for  the  South.     But  he  does  wish  to  emphasize 


52  BEEKEEPING     I\     THE     SOUTH 

the  need  of  more  winter  protection  in  many  i)arts  of  this  region. 
The  best  test  for  the  beekeeper  is  for  him  to  ask  himself 
if  he  is  really  satisfied  with  his  present  yields  of  honey.  If  not, 
and  his  methods  of  beekeeping  practice  are  sound  during  the  rest 
of  the  season,  look  to  wintering  and  springing  for  a  remedy. 
Experience  should  furnish  the  best  means  to  judge.  Be  open 
minded  and  try  out  better  methods  of  wintering. 


CHAPTER  VII 

Combless  Packages. 

ONE  of  the  most  serious  problems  which  faces  the  southern 
beekeeper  is  swarm  prevention,  whether  or  not  the  bees  are 
kept  in  modern  hives.  While  readers  will  say  this  is  just  as 
true  of  the  beekeeping  problems  elsewhere,  it  is  especially  true  in 
the  South  below  Tennessee  and  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  since 
in  many  such  localities  even  the  Heddon  method  of  after-swarm 
prevention  is  often  a  failure.  So  are  most  methods  of  swarm 
prevention,  for  many  beekeepers  of  this  region.  Because  of  the 
long  brood  rearing  season,  when  bees  may  begin  to  breed  up  some- 
times four  months  before  the  main  nectar  flow,  and  be  sustained 
by  a  continual  light  flow  of  nectar,  swarm  prevention  becomes  a 
problem  indeed.  In  such  localities  bees  frequently  cast  a  swarm 
and  after  all,  store  about  as  much  honey  as  those  which  do  not 
happen  to  swarm.  Imagine  the  northern  beekeeper  confronted 
with  such  a  problem  as  that.  Probably  this  excessive  swarming 
is  one  of  the  reasons  for  the  great  number  of  colonies  of  bees  in 
the  southern  states,  compared  to  any  other  region  of  similar 
area  in  this  country.  Add  to  this  the  box  hive  and  swarming 
seems  at  first  the  bane  of  southern  beekeeping. 

So  far  as  is  known  to  the  author  there  is  no  method  of  swarm 
prevention  which  is  widely  used  in  the  South,  that  differs  from 
swarm  prevention  methods  in  the  North.  In  the  Carolinas, 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Virginia,  Arkansas,  Oklahoma  and  north 
Texas,  swarm  prevention  methods  used  in  the  North  are  feasible 
and  in  use  by  all  commercial  honey  producers  of  the  region 
named.    Adequate  room  seems  to  be  a  paramount  requisite. 

In  much  of  the  area  of  Florida,  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
Louisiana  and  south  Texas,  all  swarm  prevention  methods  too 
often  fail.  The  writer  never  met  a  beekeeper  in  this  region  who 
did  not  face  the  swarm  problem  every  year  and  who  was  not 
often,  in  a  good  year,  without  remedy  except  to  take  bees  away 
from  the  colonies.    Increase  is  a  simple  method  in  most  parts  of 

53 


54 


BEHKEEPIMi      IX      TIIK     SlJUTII 


BEEKEEPIXG     IX     THE     SOUTH  55 

the  South  and  the  extent  to  which  it  could  be  successfully  carried 
in  the  regions  where  the  early  summer  honey  flow  is  constant 
but  light,  is  only  to  be  conjectured.  The  direct  relation  of  the 
swarm  problem  is  probably  the  reason  behind  the  popularity 
of  bulk  comb  honey  in  Texas  and  probably  explains  the  pro- 
duction of  extracted  and  chunk  honey  rather  than  comb  honey 
in  much  of  the  South.  There  are  many  regions  where  section 
honey  could  be  successfully  produced  and  some  where  comb 
honey  is  being  produced  extensively.  A  hindrance  to  comb  honey 
production  in  this  region,  as  seen  by  the  author,  is  the  large 
number  of  bees  operated  by  most  commercial  honey  producers. 
With  an  aggravated  swarm  problem,  a  change  from  extracted 
to  comb  honey  in  much  of  the  South  will  probably  await  the  dis- 
co\ery  of  more  successful  swarm  prevention  methods  for  out- 
apiaries. 

Combless  Packages. 

The  combless  package  has  pro\cn  a  blessing  to  dozens  of 
honey  producers  in  the  South.  The  early  failures  in  package 
shipping  caused  many  of  the  best  known  beekeepers  of  the 
North  to  put  little  faith  in  the  future  of  the  comble§s  package 
business.  First,  the  northerners  did  not  know  the  value  of  taking 
bees  from  colonies  in  the  South  to  prevent  swarming;  and  second, 
they  had  little  faith  that  shipments  would  ever  be  made  success- 
fully. 

The  shipping  problem  is  rapidly  being  solved  and  has  been 
found  to  be  largely  the  fault  of  some  who  advocated  the  use  of 
too  small  a  shipping  cage  for  combless  packages,  to  insure  rea- 
sonable success  in  shipping.  There  are  dealers  in  the  South 
now  who  ship  hundreds  of  packages  annually  wdth  little  loss. 
T.  W.  Burleson,  of  Texas,  told  the  author  recently  that  he  had 
shipped  several  hundred  combless  packages  in  a  year  without 
the  loss  of  more  than  a  dozen  packages.  Another  fault  w^as  that 
some  shippers  in  the  South  took  orders,  for  bees,  too  far  from 
them,  to  insure  reasonable  safety  in  shipping.  Those  who 
condemned  combless  packages  when  the  industry  first  started 
either  executed  a  right  about  face  as  to  their  value,  or  have  been 
left  behind  in  beekeeping  progress. 


56 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


Swarm  Prevention  by  Packages. 

Southern  beekeepers  have  always  krown  that  in  most  years 
their  bees  bred  up  too  fast  and  were  so  strong  long  Ix'fore  the 
main  honey  flow  began,  that  to  prevent  swarming  was  an  almost 
impossible  task.  This  was  particularly  true  of  the  region  south 
of  the  Carolinas,  Tennessee  and  Arkansas.  Along  came  the 
combless  package  demand  and  behold,  their  problem  was 
solved. 

Such  package  shippers  as  M.  C.  Berry,  Hayne\'ille,  and  W.  D. 
Achord,  Fitzpatrick,  Alabama,  T.  W.  Burleson,  Waxahatchie, 
Texas,  as  well  as  many  Georgia,  Florida,  and  Mississippi  bee- 
keepers, feel  that  combless  packages  have  solved  a  problem  for 
them,  and  at  the  same  time  offered  a  means  of  increasing  the 
profit  from  their  bee  yards  several  fold.  In  the  localities  men- 
tioned, bees  frequently  begin  breeding  up  in  January  and  Febru- 
ary. The  most  important  honey  plants  of  south  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Georgia,  and  north  Florida  come  into  bloom  in  these 
localities  about  May  fifteenth  on  the  average. 

With  breeding  up  well  on  the  way  by  March  first  and  two 
whole  months  ahead  before  surplus  honey  may  often  be  expected, 
one  can  readily  see  the  swarming  problem  which  results.  But 
since  they  are  enabled  to  fill  combless  package  orders  for  ship- 
ment to  the  North  in  latter  April  and  May,  their  swarming  prob- 


Pig.    19.      Packages  crated  for  shipment. 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 


57 


Fig.  20.      A  handy  funnel  for  filling  packages. 

lem  has  disappeared.  They  are  enabled  to  remove  enough 
bees,  often  as  many  as  five  or  more  pounds  from  each  of  their 
strong  colonies,  and  the  hatching  brood  after  this  depletion  will 
usually  bring  the  colony  to  full  field  strength  for  the  beginning 
of  the  main  honey  flow.  By  giving  plenty  of  room  at  all  times 
and  watching  the  yards  carefully,  they  experience  little  further 
trouble  from  swarming  in  average  years.  Thus,  the  combless 
package  has  a  demand  in  the  North  and  in  the  South,  and  solves 
a  real  problem  at  either  end. 

Rearing  Qvieen  Bees. 

Another  prominent  feature  of  beekeeping  in  the  South,  in  a 
belt  of  country  wider  than  that  from  which  combless  packages 
may  be  shipped,  is  the  early  rearing  of  queen  bees  for  the  market. 
This  belt  extends  up  into  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and 
Arkansas,  where  the  same  long,  slow  nectar  flow  early  in  the  year, 
common  in  many  parts  of  the  South,  is  ideal  for  the  production 
of  good  queen  cells  and  the  rearing  of  vigorous  queen  bees. 


58 


BEEKEEPING     IN      THE     SOUTH 


Fig.    21.      yueen    mating   nuclei   in   Southwest   Texas. 


There  are  many  beekeepers  in  this  region,  who  devote  much 
or  all  of  their  time  to  the  production  of  queen  bees,  like  Ben  G. 
and  John  M.  Davis,  of  Tennessee.  With  a  large  home  apiary 
for  a  mating  yard  and  several  outyards  from  which  to  draw 
bees  for  mating  nuclei,  swarm  prevention  in  the  outyards  loses 
its  significance  and  an  interesting  and  profitable  business  results. 
Probably  one  of  the  first  ambitions  of  most  beginners  in  bee- 
keeping is  to  be  a  breeder  of  queen  bees.  That  there  are  fewer 
beekeepers  really  fitted  for  this  work  than  any  other  phase  of 
beekeeping,  is  the  opinion  of  the  author.  The  production  of 
good  queen  bees,  reared  in  strong  colonies  and  mated  in  nuclei 
strong  enough  to  be  worthy  of  the  name,  is  a  science  by  itself. 
Like  the  small  combless  package  for  shipping  bees,  one  of  the 
greatest  hindrances  to  successful  queen  rearing  has  been  the 
early  advocacy  of  the  "baby"  nuclei.  Every  queen  breeder 
whose  business  is  growing  in  the  South,  and  whose  yards  have 
been  visited  by  the  author,  is  leaning  more  strongly  toward  the 
use  of  larger  queen  mating  nuclei  each  year.  Some  even  have 
gone  to  the  extreme  of  using  four  and  five  full  Hoffman  frame 
nuclei.  Needless  to  say  this  trend  has  improved  the  quality  of 
the  fjueens. 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


59 


Early  Breeding  Up. 

In  Farmers  Bulletin  975,  on  the  Control  of  European  Foul- 
brood,  is  written:  "If  it  is  certain  that  there  will  be  no  honey- 
flow  until  midsummer  or  later,  it  is  not  so  necessary,  from  the 
standpoint  of  good  beekeeping,  to  have  all  colonies  strong  so 
early  in  the  year,  but  it  is  surely  an  exceptional  locality  where 
there  is  nothing  for  the  bees  to  get  in  early  summer."  Applied 
to  northern  conditions  this  is  eminently  true.  Applied  to  much 
of  the  South  and  the  need  of  a  use  other  than  swarms  for  early 
hatched  bees  is  plainly  seen.  At  present,  swarm  prevention  is 
being  handled  largely  by  shipping  combless  packages  or  in  mak- 
ing queen  mating  nuclei.  With  others,  unless  they  are  careful 
beekeepers  indeed,  swarms  are  the  result.  Excessive  swarming 
is  probably  the  best  reason  for  the  average  lower  yield  per  colony 
of  honey  in  the  South,  if  the  last  federal  census  figures  are  to  be 
credited. 


Fig.  22.      Home  and  queen  mating  yard  of  J.  L.  Leath  of  Corinth, Mississippi. 


60 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.   23.      One  of   M.   C.    Berry's  yards  for  breeding  package  bees. 


A  Drone  Reservoir. 


The  practice  common  among  southern  queen  breeders  to  pro- 
tect their  supply  of  drones,  when  shortages  of  honey  come  be- 
tween flows,  is  interesting  in  the  application  of  a  known  bee 
instinct  which  it  makes  use  of.  Queenless  bees  welcome  drones 
and  seldom  kill  them  off  in  any  number.  By  keeping  certain  colo- 
nies in  the  yard  permanent!}^  queenless  at  the  approach  of  a 
dearth  of  honey  or  fall  weather,  drones  will  congregate  there  and 
be  available  for  queen  mating  purposes  long  after  they  might 
otherwise  be  driven  out.  This  is  called  by  some  beekeepers,  a 
"drone  reservoir." 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Tropical  South. 

THE  area  which  may  be  called  tropical  really  occupies  a  small 
part  of  Florida,  Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  and  south 
Texas.  It  differs  from  other  parts  of  the  South,  so  far  as  bee- 
keeping is  concerned,  in  many  ways.  Primary  among  these  is 
the  average  higher  temperatures  and  relative  freedom  from  frost. 
The  honey  plants  are  also  quite  different  and  are  in  turn  in- 
fluenced in  their  nectar  secretion  by  both  the  excessive  rainfall 
and  the  dry  weather  common  to  that  part  of  the  "Great  American 
Desert"  which  lies  in  southern  Texas.  There  are  regions  along 
the  coast  of  Alabama,  Mississippi,  and  Louisiana,  where  tropical 
temperatures  are  approximated  in  most  years.  However,  the 
chances  of  frost  in  this  latter  area  are  greater  than  further  south. 
Because  of  the  higher  temperatures  which  prevail  throughout 
the  year  in  this  tropical  area,  there  is  a  much  shorter  period  of 
inactivity  and  a  much  longer  one  when  bees  are  active,  than  in 
other  parts  of  the  country.  The  climate  of  southern  California 
approximates  it. 

One  of  the  primary  differences  in  this  area,  when  compared 
to  others,  is  the  soil.  The  effect  of  soils  on  the  secretion  of  nectar 
by  honey  plants  has  not  been  studied  to  any  great  extent,  but  it  is 
known  that  soils  have  a  considerable  effect  on  honey  plants. 
Throughout  much  of  this  region  the  type  of  soil  is  somewhat 
sandy.  Much  of  tropical  Florida  is  sandy,  with  occasional 
patches  of  black,  loamy  land,  while  most  of  southwest  Texas  is 
sandy  and  rocky.  The  fact  that  this  land  is  sandy  does  not 
mean  in  all  cases  that  it  is  infertile.  The  opposite  is  true  of  many 
parts  of  Florida  and  Texas  alike,  where  a  sufficient  water  supply 
is  available  for  commercial  plant  life.  Honey  plants,  fortunately, 
are  not  necessarily  of  commercial  importance  to  other  lines 
of  agriculture,  and  the  beekeeper  here  benefits  thereby. 

In  Florida  the  rainfall  is  fairly  constant  and  many  parts  of 
the  state  where  tropical  temperatures  prevail  are  so  near  sea 

61 


62 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.    24.      Apiiiry  of   B.    M.    Carraway,    Mathis,   Texas. 


level,  that  the  moisture  problem  is  nil  so  far  as  the  beekeeper  is 
concerned.  Drouths  do  not  figure  largely  in  beekeeping  in 
Florida,  although  several  of  the  mOvSt  important  honey  plants  of 
the  state  are  greatly  affected,  as  to  yield  of  nectar,  by  the  tem- 
peratures. Cabbage  palmetto  bloom,  for  instance,  will  stand 
neither  extremes  of  heat  or  cold.  Rainy,  cool  weather  seems  to 
stunt  its  bloom,  while  very  hot  weather  seems  to  "burn"  the  blos- 
soms. It  yields  best  in  even,  moderately  warm  temperatures. 
Black  mangrove  has  a  similar  tendency  and  frequently  yields 
at  certain  hours  of  the  day,  or  ceases  nectar  secretion  altogether, 
like  buckwheat  in  New  York  state. 

Migratory  Beekeeping. 

This  tropical  country,  particularly  Florida,  was  the  original 
home  of  migratory  beekeeping.  O.  O.  Poppleton,  who  lived  for  a 
time  at  Stuart,  and  whose  locality  was  visited  by  the  writer,  was 
perhaps  the  first  exponent  of  migratory  beekeeping,  but  gave  up 
the  practice  in  later  years.  The  Marchants,  of  Georgia  and 
Florida,  have  practiced  migratory  beekeeping  with  some  success. 


BEEKEEPIN. 


IN     THE     SOUTH 


63 


as  have  many  other  beekeepers  of  the  Appalachicola  section. 
Beekeepers  have  been  visited  at  Miami,  who  place  their  bees 
on  Hghters  and  tow  them  further  down  the  east  coast  to  the  man- 
grove locations  on  the  Keys.  On  the  west  coast,  this  plan  has 
not  been  so  thoroughly  tried,  but  is  proving  feasible.  However, 
migratory  beekeeping,  either  in  Florida,  or  from  other  states  to 
Florida,  has  been  largely  given  up.  Success  has  not  usually 
attended  the  efforts  to  make  it  pay.  Most  of  the  beekeepers 
of  this  area  have  permanent  locations  for  most  of  their  bee 
yards. 

Queens  and  Packages. 

One  feature  of  tropical  locations,  both  in  south  Florida  and 
southwest  Texas,  is  the  value  of  such  locations  to  raise  queen 


^?«^"-^: 


HNij'^^a;: 


:v.-;  •,«?\'U*.» 


1% 


^m 


V\g.   25.      Harry  Hewitt's  apiary  at  Lake  Apopka  in  Tropical  Florida. 


64  BEEKEEPIXG     I\     THE     SOUTH 

bees  and  for  the  early  shiiMiient  of  pound  j^ackages  of  bees. 
Many  bees  in  such  locations  are  run  for  packages  alone,  as  the 
surplus  season  frequently  closes  early.  In  locations  like  Texas, 
where  mesquite,  a  principal  source  of  v^urplus  honey,  may  bloom 
two  or  three  times  in  a  season,  it  is  possible  to  get  honey  in  addi- 
tion to  bees.  The  shipment  of  queens  and  packages  ceases  earlier 
in  the  tropical  locations,  than  a  little  further  north,  because  of 
the  higher  temperatures  of  summer  and  because  of  the  later 
demand  for  bees  from  m.ore  northern  points. 

One  of  the  hardest  problems  of  the  man  who  ships  packages 
of  bees,  from  any  of  the  locations  north  of  the  tropics,  is  to  fur- 
nish the  necessary  queen  bees  at  the  time  the  packages  are 
shipped.  In  many  cases  the  package  shipper  is  not  a  queen  breed- 
er. The  demand  for  packages  without  queens  is  comparatively 
light.  Breeders  of  the  far  South  have  solved  this  problem. 
With  their  bees  at  swarming  pitch  by  the  time  the  package  man 
makes  ready  to  ship,  the  queens  to  accompany  the  packages 
are  often  reared  a  few  hundred  miles  further  south,  as  by  B.  M. 
Caraway  for  T.  W.  Burleson,  both  of  Texas. 

Bee  Pests. 

There  is  no  locality  in  the  tropics  where  insect  pests  and 
even  animal  pests  do  not  have  to  be  figured  on.  This  is  more 
especially  true  of  Florida  than  Texas.  "Bee  hawks,"  a  common 
name  for  large  dragon  flies,  have  often  proved  to  be  preventa- 
tives of  successful  rearing  queen  bees  in  the  swampy  tropics, 
at  certain  seasons  of  the  year.  Queen  bees  pro\e  easy  prey  to 
the  dragon  flies,  and  many  missing  queens  is  frequently  the  lot 
of  the  breeder  in  such  localities. 

Mud  wasps  have  proved  to  be  another  source  of  frequent 
annoyance  in  portions  of  couth  Florida  where  they  often  take 
possession  of  empty  combs  and  sheets  of  foundation,  while  bees 
may  be  in  possession  of  other  parts  of  the  hive.  In  Florida  the 
writer  visited  a  number  of  beekeepers  who  showed  him  combs 
with  patches  of  brood  chewed  out  nearly  as  large  as  the  hand, 
which  was  blamed  to  tree-toads.    The  beekeepers  reported  having 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH  65 

caught  the  animals  in  the  act.  Predatory  animals  also  figure  as 
}3ests,  in  Texas,  as  well  as  Florida. 

Probably  the  most  common  insect  pest  is  the  ant,  both  in 
Texas  and  Florida.  In  many  places  in  the  latter  state,  the 
bees  are  kept  on  raised  platforms,  with  the  legs  of  the  stands 
resting  in  troughs,  which  are  kept  full  of  water.  In  the  case 
of  outyards,  it  frequently  becomes  necessary  to  keep  the  surface 
of  such  water  co\'ered  with  oil,  in  order  to  decrease  evaporation. 
In  Texas,  the  ant  pest  is  probably  the  most  serious  one  and  with 
J.  W.  Reid  near  Uvalde  it  is  often  necessary  to  hunt  out  ant 
nests  and  by  the  use  of  scalding  w^atcr,  the  spade,  carbon  bisul- 
phide and  fire,  attempt  to  destroy  the  nests  of  the  maurauders. 

In  both  these  states  the  bee  moth  is  a  serious  menace  where 
combs  are  left  without  the  bees  to  cover  them,  but  this  pest  never 
proves  to  be  serious  in  the  hands  of  the  careful  beekeeper. 

Wax  Production. 

In  many  tropical  countries  where  there  is  usually  much  dark 
honey  produced,  beekeepers  frequently  make  a  practice  of  pro- 
ducing all  the  wax  possible.  Wax  production  alone  was  not  found 
in  any  locality  visited  by  the  writer  in  either  Florida  or  Texas. 
In  Texas  at  the  apiary  of  J.  W.  Reid,  Uvalde,  the  writer  saw 
3,547  pounds  of  beeswax  in  one  pile.  In  southwest  Texas  where 
mostly  extracted  honey  is  produced,  w^ax  is  one  of  the  principal 
sources  of  income  of  the  beekeeper.  Quantities  of  wax  are  also 
shipped  from  Florida,  where  the  custom  of  using  eight  frames 
in  a  ten  frame  super  for  extracted  honey  adds  to  the  crop  of  wax 
in  uncapping. 

Variety  of  Honey  Plants. 

One  is  impressed  in  visiting  any  good  location  in  tropical  Mori- 
da,  Alabama  and  Mississippi,  near  lowlands,  with  the  variety 
of  plants  available  as  nectar  sources  for  bees.  At  DeLand,  the 
home  of  Prof.  E.  G.  Baldwin,  the  writer  was  shown  a  list  of  about 
120  plants  on  which  bees  had  been  seen  working  at  some  time. 
One  is  impressed  by  the  fact  that  fewer  of  the  surplus  nectar 
sources  are  small  plants  and  more  are  shrubs  or  trees,  in  the  trop- 


66 


BEEKEEPINXx     IX     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.  26.      Apiary  of  300  colonies  belonging  to  J.  K.  Isbell  on  the  Apa- 
lachicola  River,  Florida. 


ics.  In  Texas  they  are  typically  desert  trees  and  shrubs,  pro- 
tected by  thorns  in  nearly  every  case.  This  is  seldom  true  in 
Florida,  where  the  trees  which  yield  nectar  are  simply  featured 
by  the  rank  growth  which  is  typical  of  the  lowland  tropics. 
In  Texas,  the  variety  is  not  so  great  as  in  Florida,  probably  due 
to  the  greater  available  water  supply  in  Florida.  R.  B.  Willson 
reports  an  enormous  variety  of  honey  plants,  as  yet  largely  un- 
classified, growing  along  the  Gulf  in  southern  Mississippi. 

Nectar  Sources. 

There  are  probabh'  four  or  fi\e  plants  or  trees  in  l-'iorida  which 
would  be  considered  the  important  nectar  sources  of  the  state. 
Primary  among  these  is  the  saw  or  scrub  palmetto,  which  grows 
practically  throughout  the  state,  anrl  which  is  a  very  dependable 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


67 


source.  Black  tupelo  probably  comes  second,  although  it  is  a 
question  which  of  the  two  yields  the  better  quality  honey. 
Black  mangrove  is  a  very  important  honey  plant  in  southern 
Florida  and  is  gradually  assuming  the  importance  throughout 
the  greater  part  of  the  lowlands  and  coast  that  it  had  before 
the  big  freeze  of  1 894,  which  destroyed  the  trees  throughout  the 
state.  Orange  honey  is  somewhat  important  in  Florida,  es- 
pecially in  the  locality  near  Orlando,  but  is  not  often  gotten  in 
its  purity.  Gallberry  is  found  growing  throughout  a  great  por- 
tion of  Florida  and  increases  in  value  as  a  honey  plant  as  one  goes 
toward  Georgia.  It  does  not  seem  to  yield  so  well  further  south. 
Pennyroyal,  a  low  growing  plant,  is  an  important  source  of  spring 
stimulation  throughout  tropical  Florida,  particularly  back  from 
the  coast.     It  is  like  the  fruit  bloom  of  the  North  and  in  some 


}Jj:- 

f 

H^^H^'"- 

A  j^aiiii^^j^i^^^^ 

m.^^ 

W.,:^',--''^x*m 

m^ 

^pppg^ 

*mm€ 

'^wf^ 

fT 

S=H- 

TV: 

1.-      "^ 

^^^ .%, 

■  %. 

i..f,iai 

Wmii 

|^Vplr\ 

r::  -p 

■jM 

H.  ' 

-s»             * 

^'*l*  '■  r 

Fig. 


27.      Semi  tropical    conditions    prevail    in    Florida    and    in    the   lower    Rio 
Grande    Valley. 


68  BEEKEEPING     IX      THE     SOUTH 

parts  of  the  state  frequently  yields  surplus  honey,  where  colonies 
are  in  shape  to  gather  it  beginning  early  in  the  year. 

Texas  tropical  honey  plants  are  fewer.  Mesquite  is  probably 
the  most  important  and  is  a  tree  varying  in  size  up  to  fifteen  feet 
in  height,  which  may  bloom  as  many  as  three  times  a  year.  Cat- 
claw  and  huajilla  are  other  important  nectar  sources  coming 
early  in  the  year.  Further  west  alfalfa  is  becoming  quite  im- 
portant, where  a  greater  water  supply  is  available.  (See  Chapter 
on  Honey  Plants.) 


CHAPTER  IX 
The  Alluvial  Regions. 

BETWEEN  the  tropics  of  the  South  and  the  mountain  regions 
toward  the  North  lies  a  vast  alluvial  region  of  rolling  clay- 
sand  hills,  interspersed  here  and  there  with  patches  of  rich, 
black  land.  This  belt  extends  across  South  Carolina,  Georgia, 
Alabama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas  and  up  into  parts  of  Ten- 
nessee, Oklahoma  and  Arkansas,  between  the  mountain  ranges 
there.  We  are  concerned  principally  with  the  region  east  of  the 
Mississippi,  where  beekeeping  conditions  differ  radically  from 
the  tropics  and  from  the  mountain  regions  and  where  beekeeping 
conditions  more  nearly  apj.roximate  the  Northern  ** white  clover 
belt."  It  is  this  vast  alluvial  region  which  forms  what  most  of 
us  are  accustomed  to  think  of  as  the  "South." 

On  the  line  next  the  tropics,  the  seasons  approximate  tropical 
beekeeping  conditions,  as  with  J.  E,  Marchant  of  Columbus, 
Georgia,  while  as  one  goes  north  toward  the  distant  mountains 
of  Tennessee  and  the  Carolinas,  the  season  shortens  and  the 
winters  become  more  severe.  In  the  centre  of  this  belt  from 
north  to  south,  conditions  are  not  unlike  those  of  the  Middle 
West,  except  for  shorter,  lighter  winters  and  longer  summers. 
One  of  the  cardinal  points,  which  has  impressed  the  writer,  is 
that  most  of  the  honey  sources  of  the  alluvial  section  are  plants 
and  shrubs  and  few  of  them  are  trees.  In  both  the  tropics  and 
the  mountainous  section  of  the  South,  many  of  the  most  impor- 
tant honey  plants  are  found  among  the  trees.  While  there  are  a 
great  variety  of  honey  plants  in  this  alluvial  section,  the  terri- 
tory may  be  roughly  divided  into  belts,  as  to  the  most  important 
honey  plants. 

Another  influence  on  the  secretion  of  nectar  in  honey  plants 
is  the  soil  and  climate.  Neither  of  these  features  has  been  studied 
much  as  yet.  However,  it  is  quite  interesting  to  notice  that  the 
alluvial   region   differs   in    soil   types   from   both    the   mountain 

69 


70 


BEEKEEPINC;     IX     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.    28.      The    rich    flora    of    a    Georgia    swamp 


and  tropical  parts  of  the  South.  In  the  tropics,  sand  predomi- 
nates, while  in  the  alluvial  section,  it  is  scarce,  the  red  and  blue 
clay  types  being  in  the  majority.  There  are  many  sections,  as  in 
Alabama  and  Mississippi,  where  the  soil  is  well  supplied  with 
limestone  and  where  sweet  clover  abounds.  Along  the 
Mississippi  River  in  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  and  Arkansas, 
the  swamp  flora  of  the  tropics  is  somewhat  duplicated  and 
we  find  again  trees  largely  dominating  as  honey  plants.  Just 
back  from  the  Mississippi  River,  the  soil  is  usually  of  the 
black  type,  and  the  shrubs  and  smaller  honey  plants  are  largely 
in  the  majority,  according  to  F.  M.  Morgan,  J.  F.  Archdekin, 
and  Frank  Pease  of  Louisiana.  On  the  Atlantic  coast  of  Georgia, 
North  Carolina,  South  Carolina  and  north  Florida  extends  the 
famous  gallberry  region,  where  this  plant  alone  is  often  sufficient 
to  give  an  entire  crop  of  honey.     In  all  these  lowlands,  vines 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 


71 


figure  also  largely  in  the  list  of  honey  plants,  as  for  instance  the 
rattan  in  west  Louisiana  and  east  Texas. 

Queens  and  Packages. 

In  this  alluvial  section  queen  rearing  and  pound  packages  of 
bees  figure  as  an  important  source  of  income  for  the  beekeeper. 
The  season  when  nectar  may  be  found  by  the  bees  is  long  enough 
to  permit  queen  rearing  to  continue  through  most  of  the  season 
that  queensare  needed  in  other  parts  of  the  country.  In  the  tropics, 
however,  the  honey  fiows  often  cut  off  when  \-ery  hot  weather 
comes.  Then,  too,  the  alluvial  section  honey  flows,  except  in  a 
few  localities,  are  long  and  steady,  or  at  least  are  not  so  intensive 
as  the  beekeeper  in  the  white  clover  belt  is  accustomed  to. 
For  the  most  part  extracted  honey  is  produced,  although  there 
are  many  parts  of  this  vast  region  where  some  comb  honey  is 
produced  and  many  more  where  it  would  pay  well  for  the  bee- 
keeper who  has  not  too  many  bees,  to  hardle  the  problems  of 


Fig.  29.     An  up-to-date  apiary  in  the  pine  woods  of  Alabama. 


72 


BEEKKKI'INc.      IN      Till-:     SOUTH 


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Fig.  30.      There  are  many  good  locations  along  the  streams  in  (/.< 


the  comb  honey  producer.  The  writer  would  estimate  the 
commercial  production  of  extracted  honey  to  comb  honey  in  the 
alluvial  section  as  about  80  to  20  in  1919.  It  is  probable  that 
lowering  prices  for  extracted  honey  following  the  jx^ace  treaty- 
may  increase  the  production  of  comb  honey  again,  since  prices 
on  comb  honey  in  the  past  have  been  more  stable. 

Much  of  this  region  is  covered  with  pine  woods  and  in  such 
locations  but  few  of  the  big  beekeepers  of  the  South  are  found. 
However,  much  of  the  woods  is  being  cut  and  when  cultivation 
of  this  region  has  gotten  well  under  way  in  all  jxirts  of  the 
South,  it  is  probable  that  the  pasture  for  bees  from  such  culti- 
vated crops  as  field  peas,  soy  beans,  cow  peas,  cotton  and  alfalfa 
may  increase.  Some  very  good  alfalfa  honey  is  reported  in  parts 
of  Mississippi  along  the  "river"  where  the  soil  types  seem  to 
differ  radically  from  the  bulk  of  the  soils  of  this  region.    This  is 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


73 


one  of  the  first  instances  of  this  plant's  yielding  surplus  honey 
east  of  the  Mississippi  River  which  has  come  to  the  attention  of 
the  author. 

The  Melilotus  Area. 

Northern  beekeepers  who  are  accustomed  to  seeing  fields  of 
cultivated  sweet  clover  grow,  should  visit  the  sw^eet  clover  or 
"black  land"  belt  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  w^here  thousand 
of  acres  of  this  plant  grow  wild.  The  land  is  of  a  limestone  typ^ 
and  the  plant  makes  a  thriving  growth.  This  makes  a  veritabl 
paradise  for  bees,  and  as  sweet  clover  wherever  found  makes  a 
dependable  honey  plant  in  spite  of  drouth  or  flood,  the  value  of 
this  region  as  a  honey  producer  can  easily  be  seen.  However, 
much  of  this  land  in  Alabama,  near  W.  D.  Achord,  is  being 
bought  up  for  pasturing  and  is  being  fenced,  where  blooded  stock 
is  being  introduced.  This  may  mark  the  end  of  honey  plants 
in  much  of  this  region  at  a  not  far  distant  time. 


Mi^'^ 


m-.'- 


.  --4 


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viwJW^' 


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Fig.  31.      Where  Tennessee  Bees  hum.     Apiary  of  J.  j\l.  Da\is  at  Spring 

Hill. 


74  ^,    BEEKEEPIXC.      IX      THE     SOUTH 

Pound   Packages. 

In  this  territory  the  pound  package  business  has  assumed 
proportions  only  equaled  in  parts  of  Texas.  Thousands  of  pounds 
of  bees  in  combless  packages  go  north  each  year  to  Canada-  and 
the  northern  states,  and  add  to  the  income  of  the  southern  bee- 
keeper. In  this  vast  sweet  clover  belt,  where  melilotus  is  the 
principal  source  of  surplus  honey,  but  where  a  stimulative  nectar 
flow  may  begin  weeks  before  sweet  clover  blooms,  the  package 
trade  has  become  the  vsalvation  of  the  beekeeper.  The  apiarist 
of  this  region  is  enabled  to  take  from  one  to  ten  pounds  of  bees 
from  his  colonies  at  the  time  they  may  approach  the  swarming 
strength,  but  when  it  is  yet  several  weeks  until  the  sweet  clover 
may  bloom.  This  enables  him  to  handle  the  swarming  problem 
at  an  advantage  to  himself,  both  financially  and  from  a  stand- 
point of  beekeeping  practice.  With  the  package  shipping  season 
over,  the  colonies  easily  regain  surplus  strength  for  the  sweet 
clover  flow,  and  a  crop  of  honey  follows  the  crop  of  bees.  We 
often  wonder  what  in  the  world  the  beekeepers  of  this  region  did 
before  the  advent  of  the  package  business.  Answers  to  this 
query  from  some  of  the  extensive  beekeepers  in  Alabama  indicate 
that  there  was  often  nothing  to  do  but  let  the  bees  swarm,  even 
where  no  more  increase  was  wanted  and  the  honey  flow  was  yet 
several  weeks  distant.  This  may  account  for  the  hundreds  of 
colonies  of  "wild"  bees  found  in  the  woods  of  this  region. 

Much  Honey  Produced. 

By  far  the  greater  portion  of  the  honey  produced  in  the  South 
is  secured  in  this  alluvial  region  and  one  of  the  weakest  points  of 
beekeeping  here  is  the  absence  of  any  marketing  organization. 
This  has  made  it  impossible  in  the  past  for  some  of  the  bee- 
keepers to  secure  an  equitable  return  on  their  investment.  Most 
of  the  honey  of  this  belt  is  light  in  color,  being  of  light  amber 
or  lighter.  There  is  no  more  beautiful  honey  in  the  comb  than 
the  partridge  pea  honey  of  Georgia  and  the  gallberry  regions  of 
the  costal  lands  produce  a  product  worthy  of  greater  attention 
than  it  has  received  in  the  past  from  the  connoisseur  of  honey. 


BEEKEEPIXCx      IX      THE     SOUTH 


75 


Winter  Losses. 

While  winter  losses  in  this  region  are  frequently  heavy,  w  hen 
an  unusual  winter  occurs,  it  is  doubtful  if  beekeepers  of  this 
region  will  ever  adopt  northern  methods  of  winter  protection. 
This  is  because  of  the  discrepancy  in  the  time  between  the  peak 
of  strength  of  the  colonies  of  bees  and  the  beginning  of  the  main 
honey  flow  through  most  of  this  belt.  In  the  North  there  is 
every  reason  for  packing  bees,  so  as  to  reach  the  peak  of  brood 
rearing  before  the  main  honey  flow  is  in  progress.  There  is  as 
yet  but  little  reason  for  using  methods  of  wintering  which  will 
increase  the  number  of  bees  in  a  colony  in  parts  of  the  South, 
at  the  season  when  there  is  no  immediate  need  for  bees  and  no 
way  to  use  them.  Low  winter  temperatures  are  not  unusual  here 
and  snow  often  falls  in  winter  in  much  of  this  entire  region. 
However,  it  seldom  remains  on  the  ground  for  long  and  there 
is  seldom  a  stretch  of  manv  davs  when  bees  mav  not  flv,  accord- 


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F"ig.    32.      A    \'irginia    clover    location. 


76  BEEKEEPINC;      I.\      THE     SOUTH 

ing  to  George  H.  HuninuT  of  Prairie  Point,  Mississippi.  If  the 
beekeeper  in  many  parts  of  this  belt  c  an  bring  his  colonies  through 
alive,  even  though  weak,  he  can  build  them  in  time  for  the 
crop.  The  excellent  wintering,  so  necessary  to  a  honey  crop 
further  north,  is  not  so  necessary  here.  A  temperature  as  low 
as  10°  F.  below  zero  has  been  recorded  near  Atlanta,  Georgia, 
Birmingham,  Alabama,  and  Greenville,  Mississippi,  according 
to  the  v.  S.  Weather  Bureau.     However,  this  is  the  exception. 

Deeper  Brood  Chambers. 

One  item  of  progress  which  is  to  be  noticed  here  is  the  gradual 
placing  of  the  eight-frame  hive  and  all  hi\es  of  small  brood  cham- 
ber size,  into  the  discard.  The  standard  ten-frame  dovetailed 
hive  is  found  in  use  by  most  of  the  beekeepers  in  the  western 
section  of  this  region.  In  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  where 
smaller  hives  have  been  used  in  the  past,  sentiment  is  also 
changing  toward  a  bigger  body.  In  Georgia  and  northern  Florida 
many  beekeepers  ha\e  in  the  past  used  an  eight-frame  body  and 
a  shallow  extracting  super  in  addition,  for  the  brood  chamber. 
This  is  continued  to  some  extent  and  is  also  serviceable  where 
it  is  not  feasible  to  leave  all  the  "winter"  honey  in  the  brood 
chamber  in  the  fall.  Bees  wintered  with  the  brood  chamber  filled 
with  honey  may  then  be  given  the  shallow  super  of  honey  in  the 
spring  when  a  dearth  may  threaten,  or  a  few  weeks  before  the 
main  honey  flow.  However  in  much  of  this  alluvial  territory, 
the  entire  supply  of  honey  is  left  on  the  hi\e.  But  the  need  of  a 
larger  brood  chamber  than  is  afforded  by  the  eight -frame  hive 
and  in  some  cases  by  the  ten-frame  hive,  is  noticeable.  Many 
beekeepers  of  this  section  run  the  year  through  with  two  full  ten- 
frame  bodies  for  the  brood  chamber.  It  is  our  opinion  that  this 
custom  increases  as  one  goes  west  from  the  Atlantic  coast, 
across  the  South.  In  all  parts  of  this  territory,  excesvsive  swarm- 
ing is  a  real  problem.  Some  of  the  largest  apiaries  in  the  world 
are  located  in  the  centre  of  this  belt  and  with  them  are  found  some 
of  the  best  beekeepers  in  the  country. 

Cotton  as  a  Honey  Plant. 

One  of  the  distinct  features  of  the  honey  plants  of  the  alluvial 


BEEKEEPIXc;     IX     THE     SOUTH 


77 


region  is  the  frequent  failure  of  cotton  to  yield  much  nectar  in 
all  parts  of  this  belt.  There  are  some  locations  in  Alabama  and 
Mississippi  where  cotton  is  scheduled  as  a  nectar  producer,  but 
for  the  most  part  throughout  the  entire  allu^'ial  region,  cotton 
does  not  rank  as  an  important  plant  for  the  beekeeper.  This  is  a 
peculiar  fact,  and  is  possibly  due  to  the  difference  in  soil  types, 
since  in  northeast  Texas,  cotton  is  the  principal  honey  plant 
and  there  often  yields  enormous  quantities  of  nectar.  However, 
in  this  portion  of  Texas  the  soil  is  a  deep,  black,  waxy  loam,  while 
in  some  of  the  Alabama  and  Mississippi  cotton  belt  red  and  blue 
clays  often  predominate.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  writer  that 
where  cotton  yields  in  the  alluvial  section,  the  soil  types  more 
nearly  approximate  the  black  land  of  Texas,  than  elsewhere  in 
this  region.  This  is  an  interesting  topic  for  research  by  southern 
beekeepers. 


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Fig.  33.     One  of  J.  J.  Wilder's  apiaries  in  South  Georgia. 


CHAPTER  X 
Mountain  Beekeeping. 

ACROSS  the  northern  tier  of  states  usually  classed  as  part  of 
Dixieland,  ranges  of  mountains  extend,  increasing  the  alti- 
tude of  most  of  the  country  and  transforming  much  of  the 
season  and  many  of  the  types  of  honey  plants.  It  is  this  region 
with  which  we  will  deal  in  this  chapter,  principally  to  differenti- 
ate the  seasons  and  honey  plants,  rather  than  to  show  a  different 
type  of  bee  culture  or  bee  appliances.  These  latter  are  much 
the  same  as  in  other  parts  of  the  South. 

East  of  the  Mississippi  River,  some  of  this  mountain  bee  terri* 
tory  is  included  by  flora,  in  what  is  commonly  known  as  the 
"white  clover  region."  Indeed,  it  is  the  white  clover  region,  for 
no  beekeeper  ever  tasted  finer  white  clo\xr  horxy  than  that 
produced  by  such  men  as  Porter  C.  Ward,  in  the  rolling  hills  of 
Kentucky.  This  plant  is  also  an  important  source  of  nectar  in 
some  parts  of  West  Virginia,  Mrginia,  Mar\'land  and  Tennessee. 
West  of  the  Mississippi  River  in  this  same  hilly  region,  through 
the  Ozarks  of  Arkansas  and  their  continuation  into  eastern 
Oklahoma,  white  clover  is  seldom  mentioned  as  a  source  of  honey 
and  nectar  comes  from  other  sources  too  numerous  to  name. 

With  the  arrival  of  the  beekeeper  in  the  mountains  of  Ten- 
nessee and  Kentucky,  particularly  along  the  lines  of  the  Louis\ille 
&  Nash\-ille  and  Queen  &  Crescent  Railroads,  the  type  of  soil 
found  throughout  the  alluvial  region  is  absent.  Nearing  the 
famous  bluegrass  regions,  one  finds  a  soil  not  unlike  that  of 
Illinois  and  Indiana  in  some  places,  but  the  presence  of  the 
mountains  brings  about  an  entire  change  of  flora  from  that  of 
the  alluvial  region. 

Trees  Predominate. 

As  in  the  tropics,  many  of  the  most  important  sources  of  honey 
are  again  trees.  Prominent  among  them  rank  the  tulip  poplar, 
basswood  and  sourwood,  as  well  as  locust,  sumac,  and  lesser 

79 


80 


BEEKEEPIXG     IX     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.    34.      Apiary    in     Blue    Ridge    Mountains    of    \'irginia. 


trees,  according  to  G.  M.  Bentley,  of  Knoxville,  Tennessee. 
Basswood  yields  in  greater  quantity  as  one  approaches  the 
mountain  country  where  temperature  conditions  of  climate,  j 
during  its  period  of  bloom,  are  similar  to  those  of  Wisconsin. 
Tulip  poplar  also  varies  in  yield  according  to  its  elevation  and 
the  type  of  soil  in  which  it  is  growing.  The  reasons  for  this  are 
as  yet  a  mystery  and  offer  a  fertile  field  for  investigation. 

In  Maryland,  for  instance,  according  to  G.  H.  Cale,  of  College  ' 
Park,  there  are  regions  where  tulip  poplar  grows  in  abundance 
and  where,  with  identical  trees  within  a  few  dozen  feet  of  each 
other,  some  fail  to  yield  nectar,  while  others  do.  It  has  been 
noticed  that  the  tulip,  growing  on  an  elevation,  apparently  yields 
nectar  abundantly.  Trees  growing  further  down  the  slope,  in 
exactly  similar  weather  conditions  throughout  the  year,  often 
fail  to  yield  nectar  appreciably.  It  is  believed  that  the  type  of 
soil,  which  is  know^n  to  vary  in  such  cases,  has  much  to  do  with 
this  variation  in  value  of  tulip  poplar  as  a  nectar  producing  plant. 


BEEKEEPIXCx     IX     THE     SOUTH 


81 


Basswood  also  shows  a  difference,  in  the  type  of  wood,  since 
basswood  from  trees  in  Tennessee,  for  instance,  has  never  given 
satisfaction  when  used  for  section  making  by  manufacturers  of 
bee  supplies.  This  is  particularly  true  of  those  which  grow  on 
lower  land  in  the  South  and  Southeast. 

Mountain  Climate. 

The  climate  in  the  higher  altitudes  in  this  region  is  almost 
identical  with  that  in  many  parts  of  the  North,  in  the  so-called 
"White  Clover  Belt."  In  West  Virginia,  in  altitudes  in  the 
vicinity  of  Webster  Springs,  the  winters  and  summers  approxi- 
mate in  length  and  intensity,  those  of  Wisconsin.  This  also 
applies  to  much  territory  in  eastern  Tennessee,  eastern  Kentucky 
and  western  Virginia,  where  hea\^  snowfall,  heavy  rainfall,  quite 
low  winter  temperatures  and  shorter  hot  summers  are  common. 
This  makes  it  almost  needless  to  say  that  bee  culture  in  such 
localities  in  the  South  requires  almost  identical  bee  behavior 
oj^erations  as  in  the  North. 


Fig.    35.     An    attractive    hillside   location    in    Virginia. 


82 


BEEKEEPIN'G     IX     THE     SOUTH 


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Fig.     36.      A    typical     apiary    in     gums. 


Throughout  a  great  part  of  this  mountain  region,  however, 
the  altitudes  are  not  nearly  so  high,  and  while  the  winters  fre- 
quently approximate  those  of  central  Illinois,  they  are  usually 
milder.  However,  in  practically  all  cases,  the  summers  are  long- 
er, frosts  disappearing  in  early  spring,  returning  only  late  in  the 
fall,  often  after  Thanksgiving.  This,  of  course,  results  in  a 
different  type  of  bee  culture,  necessitating  the  application  of 
white  clover  region  bee  bcha\ior  operations  earlier  and  later  in 
the  season. 

Box  Hive  Common. 

The  box  hive  is  well  distributed  over  this  territory,  usually 
exceeding  in  number  many  times,  the  modern  hive,  in  the 
higher  regions  of  the  mountains.  It  is  probable  that  there  are 
ten  box  hives  to  every  one  modern  hive  in  many  parts  of  moun- 
tainous West  Virginia,  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
However,  these  regions  are  often  so  rich  in  honey  producing 
flora  that  it  is  difficult  to  induce  beekeepers  unacquainted  with 
modern  methods,  to  adopt  them.  They  often  get  a  fair  return 
in  chunk  honey  from  box  hives,  in  spite  of  poor  beekeeping,  and 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 


83 


are  skeptical  of  the  initial  expense  incident  to  the  adoption  of 
better  methods.  However,  the  success  of  one  influential  bee- 
keeper in  their  vicinity,  using  more  modern  methods,  usually 
turns  the  scale  in  favor  of  modern  beekeeping.  This  does  not 
mean  that  there  are  no  good  beekeepers  in  this  mountain  region. 
But  they  are  somewhat  the  exception  and  are  usually  found  in 
scattered  localities,  where  the  success  of  some  modern  pioneer 
has  attracted  others. 

Winter  Losses  Heavy. 

Winter  losses  among  the  uninitiated  of  these  mountain  bee 
keepers  are  often  enormous.  H.  L.  McMurray,  formerly  of  Ken- 
tucky, C.  A.  Reese,  of  West  Virginia,  and  C.  E.  Bartholomew, 
formerly  of  Tennessee,  as  extension  workers  in  bee  culture,  have 
frequently  reported  very  hea\y  winter  losses  in  their  respective 
sections.     The  writer  is  inclined  to  believe  this  is  due  primarily 


Mg.  >>/.      A  Mississippi  River  bottom  location  in  Arkansas 


84 


BEEKEEPIXG     IX     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.  38.      Box  hive  apiary  of  a  typical  mountaineer. 

to  exces?i^'e  swarming.  After-swarms  even  to  the  number  of 
five  or  six  are  not  infrequent  from  a  single  "gum."  These  later 
swarms  are  always  smaller,  build  up  slowly  for  winter  and  are 
often  hived  so  late  that  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  they  can  gather 
enough  honey  to  winter  on.  The  fact  that  excessive  swarming 
is  allowed  may  account  for  the  great  number  of  bees  in  these 
localities,  as  the  census  map  of  bee  culture  shows.  The  applica- 
tion of  modern  methods  of  uniting  late  swarms  and  the  preven- 
tion of  excessive  swarming  works  wonders  in  this  fertile  country. 
It  is  hard  to  convince  beekeepers  in  these  regions  that  they  can 


BEEKEEPING      IX      THE     SOUTH 


85 


often  get  ten  times  the  amount  of  their  average  annual  yield  by 
modern  methods,  when  their  average  annual  yield  is  frequently 
less  than  twenty  pounds  to  the  colony.  Custom  plays  an  im- 
portant part  with  some  of  these  mountain  people,  too,  for  ex- 
cessive swarming  is  undoubtedly  due,  among  other  causes,  to 
the  habit  in  some  localities  of  ''robbing"  the  bees  but  once  in  a 
season . 

Diseases  Are  Endemic. 
Happily  American  foulbrood  has  not  yet  found  its  way  into 
many  of  the  localities  mentioned,  in  the  mountains  of  the 
South.  European  foulbrood  is  endemic  to  this  territory  and 
epidemics  of  the  disease  frequently  devastate  large  areas.  A 
glance  at  the  census  figures  for  1910,  shows  a  depreciation  in  the 
number  of  colonies,  from  the  previous  year.  It  has  come  to 
light  that  hundreds  of  colonies  were  lost  that  year  from  Euro- 
pean foulbrood.  Among  these  box  hive  beekeepers  European 
foulbrood  is  seldom  recognized  and  never  treated.  Yet  it  exists 
throughout  their  territory.  The  writer  remembers  one  Spring 
trip  through  Virginia,  where  not  a  single  county  of  the  two 
dozen  or  more  \-isited  failed  to  show  evidence  of  European  foul- 


Fig.  39.     Apiary  of  a  Georgia  farmer  who  is  an  up-to-date  beekeeper. 


86  BEEKEEPINC;      IN       11  IK     SOUTH 

brood.  Similar  conditions  ha\c  been  reported  in  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky,  in  the  mountains.  No  up-to-date  beekeeper  has  much 
to  fear  from  European  foulbrood  in  this  territory,  for  the  adoption 
of  good  strains  of  Italians  usually  results  in  its  eradication.  Most 
of  the  bees  kept  in  this  territory  are  blacks.  Occasionally  one 
runs  across  a  colony  of  beautifully  marked  Italians  which  the 
mountain  beekeeper  has  caught  as  a  swarm  in  the  woods.  This 
brings  up  speculation  as  to  how  far  these  bees  traveled  before 
they  were  hived  and  became  "mountain"  bees. 

Fall  Flows  Dependable. 

Fall  flows  are  usual  in  all  of  the  mountain  regions  of  the 
states  mentioned.  There  is  no  more  beautiful  sight  in  the 
South  than  a  West  Virginia  or  Virginia  mountain  side  covered 
for  acres  with  masses  of  aster  and  goldenrod  in  the  fall,  on  which 
the  bees  make  an  excellent  harvest.  This  probably  accounts  for 
the  fact  that  bees  in  this  region  survive  the  poor  methods  of  bee- 
keeping, since  excessive  swarming  and  poor  wintering  go  hand  in 
hand.  The  winters  are  often  severe  and,  in  the  higher  regions, 
good  protection  pays  well.  Bees  in  the  lower  foothills  of  Ten- 
nessee are  seldom  protected,  and  successful  beekeepers  there 
make  the  adoption  of  heavy  winter  packing  in  their  territory 
doubtful. 

The  territory  west  of  the  Mississippi  Ri\er  is  similar  to  that 
of  the  region  previously  discussed.  Honey  sources  are  different 
and  but  few  of  the  common  plants  of  the  eastern  belt  of  the 
mountains  are  known  across  the  "Father  of  Waters."  The 
writer  is  not  so  familiar  with  honey  sources  in  that  locality,  where 
the  Ozarks  of  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma  give  lower  altitudes  than 
the  mountains  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  the  Virginias. 
There  are  fewer  commercial  beekeepers  located  there  and  not  as 
many  colonies  of  bees.  However,  there  arc  some  fertile  fields 
in  both  states,  w^hich  are  as  yet  but  partly  developed  and  which 
offer  a  field  for  extension  work  and  modern  bee  cull  tire.  The 
climate  in  this  region  is  somewhat  mild  in  both  winter  and  sum- 
mer and  the  honey  sources  in  good  locaHtics  are  equally  varied, 
according  to  C.  E.  Sanborn,  of  Oklahoma,  and  Frank  llorsefal, 
of  Arkansas. 


CHAPTER  XI 
The  Lone   Star  State. 

IT  is  only  just  to  readers  and  to  Texas  beekeepers,  to  treat 
of  conditions  in  that  state,  even  in  the  meagre  way  possible  in 
this  short  chapter,  in  a  separate  classification.  Until  "Four 
Minute  Men"  of  the  late  war  told  millions  that  Texas  alone  had 
more  acreage  than  the  whole  of  Germany,  few  Americans 
realized  the  vast  extent  of  the  state.  Until  writers  point  out  the 
vast  differences  in  beekeeping  which  necessarily  obtain  in  so 
vast  a  region  as  Texas,  beekeepers  elsewhere  may  never  get  a 
proper  conception  of  the  variations  in  methods,  climate,  flora 
and  honey  sources  which  are  peculiar  to  the  state. 

Following  the  lead  of  Louis  Scholl  in  his  bulletin  on  "Texas 
Beekeeping,"  published  by  the  Texas  State  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, 1912,  the  writer  prefers  to  divide  Texas  apiculturally 
into  six  divisions,  in  comparing  bee  culture  there.  The  Scholl 
divisions  are:  "North,  Central,  East,  South,  West  and  South- 
west." 

North  Texas. 

Imagine  a  line  drawn  through  from  east  to  west,  which  would 
cut  off  the  northern  tier  of  counties  of  the  state,  to  include  the 
famous  Panhandle  district.  Here  the  winters  are  frequently 
severe  and  the  summers  usually  hot  and  dry,  and  often  not  best 
suited  to  bees.  Mesquite  is  found  in  some  portions  of  this  area 
and  in  certain  sections,  such  as  the  black  land  portion  north  and 
east  of  Dallas,  some  of  the  finest  cotton  honey  in  the  world  is 
produced.  Sweet  clo\'er  is  entering  the  state  here  in  a  wild 
growth,  according  to  E.  W.  Cothran,  of  Roxton.  Some  horse- 
mint,  a  famous  honey  plant  of  the  state,  is  found  on  the  southern 
edges  of  this  district.  Nearing  the  Oklahoma  line,  beekeeping 
is  rather  lax.  Near  the  Arkansas  line  better  practices  are  in 
vogue  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Texarkana,  are  some  of  the  best 

87 


88 


BEEKEEPIXC      IX     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.  40.      E.   G.   LeStourgeon,  the  genial   manager  of  the  Texas   Honey 
Producers    Association. 


beekeepers  of  the  state.  In  some  localities  the  lack  of  early 
honey  sources  prevents  rapid  building  up  in  spring  and  probably 
not  enough  attention  to  scientific  wintering  is  given. 

East  Texas. 

East  Texas  abounds  in  minor  honey  plants,  especially  along 
the  river  bottoms,  and  in  some  sections  fruit  growing  is  adding 
materially  to  the  stimulative  and  surplus  sources  for  the  bee- 
keeper. Near  the  Louisiana  line  and  farther  south  large  growths 
of  basswood  are  found.  It  is  unlikeh'  that  basswood  in  this  sec- 
tion ever  yields  as  it  has  been  known  to  yield  in  Ohio,  Wisconsin 
and  Michigan.    Neither  is  the  timber  suitable  for  honey  sections. 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


89 


as  is  the  northern  linden.  However,  there  are  some  reliable 
reports  of  heavy  flows  from  this  source.  Holly  and  chinquapin 
are  mentioned  as  important  honey  plants  and  innumerable  vines 
figure  in  honey  production,  giving  a  large  share  of  the  product 
a  light  or  light  amber  color,  according  to  T.  A.  Bowden  of  Pales- 
tine. 

Central  Texas. 

In  this  region  are  tne  main  black  land  fields  of  Texas  and  here 
the  famous  horsemint  flourishes  in  all  its  glory.  However,  this 
famous  plant  is  gradually  decreasing  in  acreage  before  cultiva- 
tion, like  the  famous  blue  thistle  of  Virginia.  In  the  southern 
belt  of  this  region,  mesquite  is  common  and  is  an  important  source 
of  honey.     Sumac  is  named  as  important  here  and  in  some  sec- 


Fig.  41.      Box  hives  like  these  are  rapidly  being  replaced  \vith  good  equipment. 


90 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.  42.      The  apiary  shown  in  Fig.  41  after  it  had  been  transferred  to  good  hives. 

tions  broomweed,  sometimes  called  summer  farewell,  is  an  im- 
portant source. 

South  Texas. 

The  famous  rattan  \'ine  of  which  one  hears  wherever  he  goes 
in  the  eastern  portion  of  this  belt,  is  an  important  >iclder.  In 
much  of  this  country  beekeeping  is  not  profitable  and  a  share  of 
the  honey  produced  here  is  of  dark  color.  Reports  have  reached 
the  author  which  indicate  that  frequent  heavy  winds  from  the 
Gulf  interfere  with  the  bees'  flight  in  many  localities  in  this 
region. 

West  Texas. 

Much  of  this  section  is  unsuitable  for  bee  cultiu'e  because  of 
protracted  drouths  and  soil  conditions.  In  some  of  the  valleys 
alfalfa  is  mentioned  as  an  important  honey  plant  and  in  some 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


91 


92 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.  44.      Combs  builL  by  wild  bees  in  the  rocks  oi  Texas. 


seasons  heavy  yields  are  secured  from  mesquite,  which  is  found 
generally  over  this  belt.  There  are  many  lesser  honey  plants 
here,  such  as  catsclaw,  which  figure  in  the  total  yield  of  the 
apiary. 

Southwest  Texas. 
In  some  years  this  region  is  one  of  the  most  important  honey 
producing  areas  in  the  world.  In  others,  such  as  during  1917 
and  1918,  drouths  devastate  the  country  and  necessitate  the 
abandonment  of  portions  of  it.  Mesquite  is  probably  the  most 
important  honey  producing  plant  and  in  some  years,  three 
blooms  to  a  season  have  been  known  from  this  source,  the 
first  occurring  usually  in  April.  This  honey  is  very  light  colored, 
of  a  fine  flavor  and  forms  the  principal  source  in  the  famous 
"Uvalde"  region.  Other  honey  plants  are  huajilla,  catsclaw  and 
innumerable  flowers  of  the  desert  regions  of  much  of  this  terri- 
tory.    Huajilla  honey  is  rated  by  many,  among  them  Scholl,  as 


BEEKEEPINCx   IX  THE  SOUTH 


93 


one  of  the  finest  honeys  of  tha  state.  There  are  sources  in  this 
region  which  are  available  most  of  the  year,  but  the  main  sur- 
plus flows  usually  come  early  in  the  season  and  are  frequently 
of  short  duration.  However,  the  flows  are  usually  very  heavy 
and  big  yields  frequently  result. 

Methods  in  Use. 
Not  long  since,  bulk  comb  honey  production  was  one  of  the 
principal  methods  used  in  this  state,  in  which  honey  produced  in 
shallow  extracting  supers  was  cut  out  and  sold  in  pails  or  other 
receptacles,  being  first  covered  w4th  extracted  honey.  This 
style  of  production  is  still  quite  popular  in  Texas.  Extracted 
honey  is  probably  the  favorite  method  followed  in  this  state  at 
present,  and  because  of  the  intensity  of  flows  and  their  short 
duration  in  many  portions,  is  likely  to  long  remain  popular. 
Commercial  beekeeping  in  the  state  is  mainly  modern  and  the 
extension  service   of  the   state   and   disease  eradication   work, 


Fig.  45.     L.  B.  Smith's  modern  apiary  at  Llano,  Texas. 


it 


94 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.    46.      A   Texas   apiary  in   the    Rio   Grande   Valley  that   produced   20,000 
pounds  of  honey  from  90  colonies. 


under  the  direction  of  F.  B.  Paddock,  College  Station,  (now  of 
Iowa)  is  probably  second  to  that  of  no  other  state  in  the  union. 
Many  of  the  better  sections  of  the  state  for  honey  production 
are  well  taken  up,  but  there  are  still  others  where  more  bees 
could  be  kept  profitably. 

Soils  and  Climate. 

Texas  varies  radically  in  soil  types,  from  the  black  loam  of 
northeast  Texas  to  the  desert  of  the  southwest  and  the  sands  of 
northwest.  Many  plants  are  found  in  the  state  which  do  not 
yield  as  they  do  in  other  localities.  Dandelion  is  found  abun- 
dantly in  north  Texas,  but  H.  D.  Murry  reports:  *T  do  not  mean 
to  say  that  bees  do  not  work  on  dandelion  here.  I  have  caught 
them  in  the  act,  but  you  would  never  know  it  by  looking  in  the 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 


95 


hives."    This  seems  indeed  pecuHar  to  the  beekeeper  of  the  North 
where  dandeHon  is  a  mainstay  of  spring. 

CUmate  varies  here  as  one  might  expect,  who  knows  the  vast 
stretches  of  territory  included  in  the  state.  In  the  north,  in  the 
vicinity  of  Fort  Worth  and  Dallas,  snows  are  not  infrequent  in 
winter  and  quite  low  temperatures  are  common  at  that  season. 
However,  throughout  the  state  high  summer  temperatures  are 
common  and  in  the  southwest,  temperatures  of  the  desert  are 
well  known.  All  this  naturally  tends  to  have  a  vital  influence 
on  the  seasons  when  honey  plants  will  yield  and  more  as  to  the 
intensity  of  the  honey  flows.  There  is  no  prettier  sight  than  the 
prairies  of  the  state  colored  with  flowers  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see. 
In  some  such  sections  a  bee  is  seldom  seen  on  these  flowers. 


Commercial  Production. 

Excepting   California,   there   are   probably   more  commercial 


Fig.  47.     SchoU  arranges  his  hives  in  groups  of  five  in  partial  shade 


96  BEEKEEPING  IX  THE  SOUTH 

honey  producers  in  Texas  than  in  any  other  slate.  One  is  im- 
pressed in  visiting  the  state  by  the  numb.T  of  beekeepers  who  do 
things  in  a  big  way,  ojx^rating  hundreds  of  colonies  and  marketing 
their  honey  in  carlots.  In  the  southern  part  of  the  state,  much  of 
the  common  labor  in  the  SchoU  apiaries  has  been  managed  by  the 
use  of  Mexicans,  and  it  is  in  this  part  of  the  state  that  the  most 
honey  is  produced  and  marketed.  In  spite  of  the  enormous 
quantities  of  honey  produced  in  Texas,  one  is  impressed  by  the 
similar  quantity  of  honey  which  is  sold  within  the  state  and 
consumed  there,  according  to  E.  G.  Le  Stourgeon. 

The  breeding  of  queen  bees  and  shipment  of  combless  packages 
forms  an  important  source  of  revenue  for  dozens  of  Texas  bee 
men.  The  value  of  this  work  was  evidenced  during  the  Euro- 
pean war,  when  Texas  beekeepers  shipped  thousands  of  pounds 
of  their  surplus  bees  to  western  states,  where  heavy  winter  losses 
had  threatened  the  production  of  honey.  The  shipment  of  comb- 
less  packages  in  Texas  is  somewhat  different  than  in  other  parts 
of  the  South,  since  not  all  of  the  package  shippers  are  confronted 
with  colonies  at  swarming  strength  long  before  the  honey  flows. 
Many  of  the  flows  come  nearer  the  natural  peak  of  strength  than 
in  Alabama  and  Mississippi. 

Texas  beekeeping  has  already  taken  advantage  of  most  of  the 
good  locations,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  counties  in  ths 
northern  and  eastern  parts.  These,  for  the  most  part,  are 
not  the  counties  where  one  would  be  most  successful.  However, 
there  are  many  localities  occupied  too  much  by  box  hive  men, 
as  in  all  other  states,  which  would  be  the  better  for  settlement  by 
bee  men  of  modern  tendencies. 


CHAPTER  XII 
Bee  Diseases. 

ALTHOUGH  bee  diseases  are  quite  prevalent  throughout 
the  southern  states,  fortunately  but  a  small  percentage  of 
the  total  infections  have  been  found  to  be  American  foul- 
brood.  Consequently  the  losses  to  commercial  beekeepers  who 
use  Italian  stocks  are  slight.  On  the  other  hand,  in  the  Appala- 
chian mountains,  where  the  hundreds  of  "beekeepers"  have  90 
per  cent  black  bees,  European  foulbrood  is  endemic  and  fre- 
quently epidemic,  causing  the  losses  of  thousands  of  colonies 
at  least  once  in  a  decade.  This  was  noticeably  true  in  the  year 
1909,  when  the  regions  mentioned  were  visited  by  a  European 
foulbrood  epidemic.  Most  of  the  South  is  as  yet  unorganized 
to  fight  bee  diseases,  and  if  American  foulbrood  had  ever  gained 
a  substantial  foothold  in  this  section,  the  bees  would  probably 
have  been  lost  in  a  short  time.  In  one  case  the  writer  visited  in  a 
southeastern  state  for  one  month  in  1916  and  found  actual  evi- 
dence of  European  foulbrood  in  every  one  of  forty- two  counties 
visited.  In  this  state  there  was  no  inspection  or  extension  service 
for  bee  culture  and  consequently  but  few  real  commercial  bee- 
keepers. Such  conditions  do  not  obtain  in  most  of  the  South, 
however,  and  fortunately  the  writer  does  not  remember  of  hav- 
ing seen  but  one  or  two  cases  of  American  foulbrood  in  seven- 
teen months  spent  in  this  territory,  investigating  such  conditions 
for  the  U.  S.  government. 

A  Prospect. 

Since  European  foulbrood  is  considered  to  be  primarily  a 
spring  disease  and  to  often  cure  itself  when  settled  warm  weather 
comes,  one  might  think  its  ravages  in  the  South  might  be  nil. 
Such,  however,  is  not  the  case,  as  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  writer 
that  more  losses,  winter  and  summer,  are  due  to  European  foul- 

97 


98  BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 

brood  than  any  other  cause,  except  excessive  swarming.  Prob- 
ably the  infection  is  a  sequence  of  excessive  swarming,  since  the 
disease  is  known  to  readily  affect  weak  colonies.  Again,  the  con- 
sequences are  fatal  in  so  large  a  percentage  of  cases  because  of 
the  prevalence  of  black  bees  in  most  of  the  apiaries  conducted 
by  non-commercial  beekeepers  and  novices.  The  writer  has 
visited  hundreds  of  bee  yards  in  spring,  where  the  beekeepers 
were  discouraged  with  the  outlook  and  believed  the  cutting  of 
timber  had  ruined  the  territory  for  bee  pasture.  Examination 
of  combs  showed  in  many  cases  that  the  death  of  colonies  was 
often  due  to  European  foulbrood,  which  disease  may  at  least  be 
retarded  by  the  introduction  of  pure  Italian  queens.  For  this 
reason,  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  writer  and  many  of  the  beekeepers 
of  this  region,  that  extension  work  in  bee  culture  is  more  vital 
to  the  immediate  future  of  beekeeping,  than  is  inspection  work. 
When  American  foulbrood  shall  have  made  some  inroads  into 
the  territory,  inspection  work  will  be  necessary  and  probably 
more  successful,  for  the  preceding  educational  work  which  may 
have  been  done  by  the  extension  men  and  women. 

American  Foulbrood. 

Practically  speaking,  widespread  infections  from  this  bee  dis- 
ease in  the  South  are  rare.  Fortunately  too,  the  few  states  where 
American  foulbrood  continually  crops  out  in  a  minor  fashion, 
have  an  adequate  inspection  service.  This  is  true  especially  of 
Texas  and  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  writer,  that  so  long  as  the 
present  system  of  handling  bee  diseases  in  vogue  in  Texas  is 
contmued,  beekeepers  there  will  have  nothing  to  fear  from  Amer- 
ican foulbrood.  The  inspection  work  in  Texas  has  been  by  areas, 
in  counties  where  the  beekeepers  thought  enough  of  their  pro- 
fession to  organize.  Some  cases  of  the  disease  have  been  found 
in  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  and  some  in  West  Virginia.  In 
Tennessee  a  good  inspection  service  is  maintained  at  this  writing, 
in  charge  of  J.  M.  Buchanan,  Franklin.  Charles  A.  Reese  at 
Charleston  was  in  charge  of  the  work  in  West  Virginia  (now 
abandoned),  and  his  work  was  entirely  successful.  Wilmon 
Newell  and  staff  are  doing  good  work  in  Florida.     No  other 


KEEKEEPIXG      IN     THE     SOUTH 


')9 


Fig.  48.     Suit  worn  by  a  Florida  Inspector. 


100 


BEEKEEPI.\(;     I\     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.   49.      Texas  inspector  giving  a   demonstration  of  transferring. 

southern  state    is   known    to    the    writer  to  be  maintaining  an 
adequate  inspection  service  at  this  time. 

Two  Big  Hindrances. 

In  the  eradication  of  bee  diseases,  there  are  two  great  hm- 
drances:  first,  too  many  box  hives,  and  second,  too  many  non- 
commercial beekeepers.  Both  can  be  ob\iatcd  by  extension 
work.  The  box  men  can  either  be  taught  to  adopt  modern  meth- 
ods or  be  forced  to  get  out  of  business.  Modern  beekeeping  has 
no  place  for  the  man  who  kec^ps  bees  in  other  than  a  movable 
comb  hive,  whether  it  be  manufactured  or  home  made.  The 
primar}^  object  is  the  ability  of  examination  afforded  by  the 
movable  comb  hive. 

The  non -commercial  l)eekeo])ers  will  be  largely  done  away 
with  when  modern  methods  have  been  taught  by  the  extension 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


101 


men.  At  present  the  South  is  not  by  any  means  overstocked 
with  bees,  even  though  48  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  colo- 
nies of  bees  in  the  United  States  are  said  to  be  located  in  this 
territory.  This  means  that  more  commercial  beekeepers  could 
be  welcomed  without  overstocking  either  the  pasture  or  the 
market.  E\en  the  fellow  who  keeps  only  a  few  bees  for  his  own 
honey  supply  has  no  excuse  for  not  using  movable  frame  hives, 
since  he  can  make  them  himself,  if  he  does  not  wish  to  buy 
supplies.  Every  well  posted  beekeeper  knows  not  only  that  it 
is  impossible  to  eradicate  bee  diseases  efficiently  in  non-movable 
frame  hives,  but  he  knows  what  is  of  more  import:  that  disease 
cannot  be  recognized  until  much  harm  has  already  been  done  in 
the  vicinity  by  its  spread,  where  the  bees  are  kept  in  logs  and 
boxes. 


u. 

■"■'"rrjSk 

1 

1 

i 

i 

V 

Fig.    50.      Think   of  inspecting   a    yard    like   this. 


102  BEEKEEPIX(;      IX      THE     SOUTH 

Other  Diseases. 

From  some  parts  of  the  more  tropical  South  come  frequent 
reports  of  considerable  trouble  from  bee  paralysis.  This  disease 
is  common  to  hot  climates,  but  there  have  been  few  really 
serious  losses  from  this  disease,  which  unfortunately,  does  not 
yield  to  treatment  in  all  cases.  There  have  been  reports  of  a 
**Disapjx?arins^  Disease"  but  most  of  these  have  revealed  nothing 
of  import  when  investigated. 

Just  why  the  South  with  its  great  number  of  colonies  of  bees 
should  be  fairly  immune  from  American  foulbrood  so  far,  is 
unknown.  A  conjecture  which  the  writer  believes  a  good  one  is 
this:  There  is  little  honey  shipped  into  the  region  for  human 
consumption  and  most  of  the  shipping  of  bees  is  out  of  the 
South.  While  the  facts  are  not  known,  it  is  reasonable  to  sus- 
pect that  shipment  of  honey  from  apiaries  where  diseases  exist 
is  responsible  for  much  disease  spreading,  through  the  robbing 
of  used  honey  cans,  etc.  Whether  or  not  much  disease  is  usually 
shipped  with  bees  is  only  to  be  conjectured.  However,  it  is 
quite  unlikely  that  much  disease  is  ever  transmitted  by  pound 
packages,  and  the  shipment  of  nuclei  is  rapidly  gi\ing  place  to 
package  shipments.  Most  men  who  buy  bees  in  the  South  buy 
them  from  their  own  region  and  consequently  run  a  smaller 
risk  of  buying  disease  than  if  purchased  in  the  North,  where 
disease  is  all  too  prevalent. 

Need  of  Education. 

The  need  of  acquainting  beekeepers  with  the  symptoms  of 
bee  diseases  is  seen  throughout  the  country  as  well  as  in  the  South. 
Beekeepers,  as  a  rule,  seldom  harbor  the  disease  when  they  know 
it  is  present.  Taught  to  recognize  the  symptoms  and  to  rec- 
ognize the  infections  at  sight,  the  end  of  serious  disease  losses 
would  soon  come.  There  is  no  more  efficient  method  of  accom- 
plishing this  than  by  extension  work,  either  by  purely  extension 
or  by  inspectors  who  are  authorized  to  give  part  time  to  educa- 
tional work. 

Not  enough  publicity  is  given  the  dangers  of  disease  incident 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 


103 


Fig.  51. 


The  wreck  that  follows  an  epidemic  of  disease   when  left    un- 
treated. 


to  various  phases  of  beekeeping.  Too  few  of  the  beekeepers  who 
must  be  eventually  reached,  take  bee  journals.  The  newspaper 
columns  of  most  dailies  are  open  to  short  articles  on  such  sub- 
jects, when  written  by  reliable  men.  This  fact  is  being  taken 
advantage  of  by  some  of  the  extension  forces,  in  order  to  get 
the  box  hive  beekeeper  thinking  and  to  reading  free  government 
bulletins,  even  when  he  will  not  buy  bee  journals  and  books. 
Of  necessity  the  appeal  must  be  to  his  greater  chances  of  financial 
success  by  the  change  to  modern  methods  and  the  eradication 
of  diseases.  Too  much  time  has  been  given  to  patriotic  appeals 
and  attempts  to  reach  his  sympathy,  which,  except  in  war  time, 
are  largely  preordained  to  failure. 

No  one  can  estimate  the  financial  loss  from  epidemics  of  Euro- 
pean foul  brood  in  the  Appalachians,  where  most  of  the  honey 
is  consumed  at  home.  The  total  would  easily  reach  thousands  of 
dollars.  We  are  a  wealthy  people,  too  much  given  to  belittling 
losses  from  waste.    Every  southern  beekeeper  should  get  behind 


104  BEEKEEPI\(.     I\      THE     SOUTH 

the  txlucational  forces  of  his  stale  and  should  see  that  the  free 
government  bulletins  on  bee  diseases  and  bees  receive  far  wider 
distribution  among  the  little  fellows,  than  they  have  ever  had  in 
the  past.  Dr.  F.  B.  Paddock  wrote  of  Texas  extension  and  in- 
spection work:  "We  have  always  felt  that  the  inspection  work 
in  this  state  was  most  entirely  a  matter  of  education.  While  we 
have  taken  the  stand  that  we  could  not  legitimately,  under  the 
provisions  of  the  law,  engage  actively  in  extensive  extension 
work,  we  ha\e  nevertheless  gi\en  the  inspector  every  encourage- 
ment in  this  work.  We  are  going  farther  and  sqggest  that  the 
inspectors  put  on  demonstrations  of  transferring. and  the  treat- 
ment of  disease." 

The  Value  of  Asepsis. 

Considerable  interest  among  southern  beekeepers  is  centering 
on  the  inspection  work  in  Florida  begun  in  1919,  where  a  large 
appropriation  has  been  granted  to  fight  bee  diseases.  The  work 
is  under  the  direction  of  Wilmon  Newell. 

Experience  with  the  citrus  canker  in  Florida,  where  success 
in  the  eradication  of  this  plant  disease  has  made  Mr.  Newell 
famous,  has  brought  about  extreme  methods  in  asepsis  among 
the  inspectors.  Very  thorough  methods  are  taken  in  disinfecting 
instruments  used,  and  workers  wear  a  regular  suit,  which  is 
also  disinfected,  as  are  their  shoes,  before  they  leave  the  prem- 
ises where  bee  disease  may  have  been  found.  The  success 
of  this  project  will  be  watched  with  interest,  as  Florida  has  more 
to  gain  from  preventive  measures  than  from  treatment  of  bee 
diseases,  since  the  latter  are  happily  rather  scarce  in  that  state. 


CHAPTER  Xlli 
Southern  Marketing  Problems. 

THERE  is  probably  no  region  of  this  country  in  which  the 
honey  produced  in  any  area  is  discriminated  against 
as  much  as  the  honey  produced  in  the  South,  east  of  the 
Mississippi  River,  when  sold  in  northern  markets.  An  obsolete 
and  unfair  classification  of  all  honey  produced  in  this  region  as 
"Southern"  has  been  common.  In  this  case  the  producer  of 
light  colored  honey  does  not  fare  as  well  as  he  should,  when  his 
price  for  honey  is  compared  with  that  of  the  producer  of  dark  colored 
honey,  who  may  also  sell  on  the  northern  market.  The  present 
classification  of  honey  based  largely  on  color  and  not  on  food 
value  and  "foreign"  content,  no  matter  where  produced,  is  ob- 
viously unfair,  but  it  will  take  years  of  education  to  eliminate  it. 
However,  it  will  not  take  years  to  eliminate  unfair  discrimination 
against  the  fine  honeys  of  the  South.  The  best  remedy  is  or- 
ganization and  honest  grading. 

Most  of  the  emergency  funds  of  the  Bee  Culture  Laboratory 
during  the  war  were  spent  in  increasing  honey  production,  some 
of  it  in  the  South.  This  was  right.  Nearly  half  the  bees  of  the 
whole  country  are  there  and  not  much  more  honey  than  could 
be  consumed  locally  has  ever  been  produced  in  hundreds  of  south- 
ern localities,  Texas  excepted.  Emergency  funds  could  bring 
great  results  there  where  producers  are  anxious  to  increase 
their  output  and  where  their  mental  attitude  was  far  more  re- 
ceptive to  changes  in  their  methods,  than  in  much  of  the  North 
and  East.  One  of  the  good  features  of  the  work  there  was  or- 
ganization. 

Southern  Honeys. 

For  the  most  part,  the  honey  produced  in  the  South  is  light 
amber  or  amber  in  color.     There  are  some  regions  where  quite 

105 


106 


BEEKKEPIXc;   IN   THE  SOUTH 


Fig.   52.      (Jakler's  wagon  was   long   a   familiar  sight  on  the  streets  of 

Memphis. 


dark  colored  honey  is  produced,  but  these  regions  can  not  fairly 
bring  upon  the  balance  of  the  product,  the  unjust  classification 
of  "Southern."  From  some  regions,  namely  Florida,  where 
black  and  white  tupelo  honey  is  produced,  there  comes  some  of 
the  finest  honey  which  any  man  has  ever  eaten.  Similarly  in 
southwest  Texas,  huajilla  yields  a  wonderfully  fine  grade  of 
nicely  flavored,  white  honey.  For  the  consumer  of  the  middle 
South,  it  is  hard  to  better  his  purchases,  than  from  the  regions 
of  Mississippi  and  Alabama,  where  wild  sweet  clover  3'iclds,  or 
in  south  Georgia,  where  partridge  pea  abounds.  Yet  how  many 
consumers  ot  hone}^  elsewhere  in  the  country  and  how  many 
beekeepers  ever  heard  of  these  honc}T>  at  bee  conxentions  orinthe 
market?    The  need  is  j)ublicity  and  cooperative  marketing. 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


107 


Honey  Prices. 

Not  alone  to  justify  the  standing  of  the  South  as  a  honey 
producing  region,  is  cooperative  marketing  advisable.  The  un- 
fair prices  paid  many  southern  producers  by  unscrupulous  buyers 
of  the  North  and  South,  give  a  more  important  reason  for  in- 
telligent marketing.  In  one  region,  many  barrels  of  honey 
were  bought  during  the  war  at  six  cents  per  pound,  and  resold 
in  New  York  City  to  a  foreign  government  for  seventeen  and  a 
half  cents  per  pound.  Surely  this  is  not  fair  to  the  producer, 
whose  honey,  in  this  case,  was  one  of  the  finest  samples  ever  seen 
by  the  writer  anywhere.  It  is  quite  likely  that  the  average  south- 
ern producer  has  received  less  for  his  honey  than  the  producer  of 
the  other  parts  of  this  country,  and  in  many  cases,  considering 
his  product  as  graded  by  flavor,  color,  and  body,  he  deserves 
a  higher  market  price. 

Honey    Exchanges. 

Organization  is  beginning  in  parts  of  the  South,  mainly  through 


Fig.  53.      This  Georgia  beekeeper  has  a  honey  route  and  serves  his  cus- 
tomers direct  from  the  tank  in  the   back  of  his  car. 


108  BEEKEEPINC.      IX     THE     SOUTH 

ihc  acli\it\'  of  agents  of  xhv  l'.  S.  1  )('i)arinKMU  of  Agriculture. 
One  of  the  best  of  these,  the  Tui)elo  Honey  h.xc  hange  at  Wewah- 
itchka,  Florida,  was  organized  dining  a  \isit  made  there  by  the 
writer.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  this  was  a  move  in  the 
right  direction,  as  the  region  served  by  this  exchange  has  re- 
ceived but  little  of  the  benefits  of  war  time  ])rices.  In  Mississippi 
the  writer  has  been  informed  by  R.  B.  Willson  that  a  number  of 
the  county  agents,  in  localities  where  much  honey  is  produced, 
have  aided  their  beekeepers  in  marketing  cooperatively.  This  is 
a  movement  which  is  bound  to  spread. 

The  Texas  Honey  Producers. 

One  of  the  most  notable  and  most  successful  moves  among 
beekeepers  of  the  South  for  marketing  their  honey  and  receiving 
an  adequate  payment  for  their  labor,  is  the  case  of  the  Texas 
Honey  Producers  Association  of  San  Antonio,  of  which  E.  G. 
LeStourgeon  is  manager.  This  association  handles  the  output 
of  most  of  the  large  apiaries  of  Texas,  has  its  own  brand,  enforces 
honest  grading  and  safe  packing,  and  has  added  several  cents  per 
pound,  in  many  cases,  to  the  total  recei\-ed  by  Texas  beekeepers 
for  their  product.  The  association  is  also  cooperative  in  buying 
supplies  for  the  beekeeper  and  has  served  to  put  beekeeping  of 
Texas  on  a  more  safe  and  sound  basis.  This  is  a  system  which 
could  be  adopted  safely  by  many  other  sections  and  is  a  method 
of  selling  which  must  be  adopted  in  some  form,  before  the  South 
as  a  whole  is  to  receive  her  just  deserts  in  the  honey  markets  of 
the  world. 

Southern  Production. 

The  total  production  of  the  South  is  low,  wheit  the  total 
number  of  colonies  of  bees  in  the  entire  region  is  considered. 
Some  whole  counties  have  been  gone  o\'er  by  the  writer,  with 
never  a  sight  of  a  modern  hive.  The  work  of  county  agents,  who 
have  gone  into  such  regions,  with  a  modern  hive  strapped  on  the 
back  of  their  buggies,  where  an  auto  could  not  go  and  the  best 
means  of  travel  was  horseback,  notably  northern  South  Caro- 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


109 


Una,  but  where  honey  plants  abounded  in  numbers,  cannot  be 
estimated  as  to  the  total  ultimate  value.  The  opportunities  are 
great  in  most  parts  of  the  South;  where  often  enough  bees  are 
already  there  to  handle  the  flora,  if  properly  managed.  Southern 
beekeepers  will  have  to  get  together  and  work  to  eliminate  the 
box  hive  man  by  changing  him  into  a  modern  beekeeper  or  elimi- 
nating him  from  the  game  by  honest  means,  before  the  South 
will  receive  its  proper  share  of  the  money  spent  annually  in  this 
country  for  honey.  Present  production  is  about  two  and  one 
half  pounds  per  capita  for  the  entire  country  and  this  probably 
is  cut  in  half  in  the  South.  There  is  great  room  for  expansion  and 
education  of  the  market,  before  over  production  ever  need  be- 
come a  bogey. 

Progress  in  Marketing. 

Although  the  South  probably  has  made  greater  strides  than 
any  other  part  of  the  country  in  the  past  five  years,  in  bettering 


TEN  I'OC.NDS 

mm 

y                          NET  WEIGHT  ; 

>^^^^B|f  ■"""^'" 

^ 

w 

Comb 

^^.^ 

Fig.  54.     Label  of  the  Texas  Cooperative  Honey  Prgducers  Association. 


no  BEEKEKPINC;     IX     THE     SOTTH 

methods  of  hunc\'  j)r()ductioii,  coinparalivcly  little  has  been 
done  to  better  the  marketing  conditions.  This  is  absolutely 
necessary  if  sales  are  to  keep  pace  with  j^roduction,  and  prices 
remain  within  reason  for  the  producer.  A  few  beekeepers 
like  J.  J.  Wilder  are  pioneering  in  aiding  others  to  sell  their 
honey  at  a  reasonable  price,  and  still  others  are  venturing  into 
bottling  and  exploiting  their  own  markets.  The  good  effect  of 
such  ventures  has  already  been  felt  in  all  such  territories  where 
the  work  is  under  way.  Southern  beekeepers,  with  their  fingers 
on  the  pulse  of  sales  and  prices,  should  endeavor  to  keep  up 
prices  in  comparison  with  increased  production  and  to  educate 
all  markets  to  use  southern  honey.  The  classification  "Southern" 
should  soon  become  as  famous  as  that  of  "Uvalde"  or  "Lone 
Star.' 


CHAPTER  XIV 
Surplus  Honey  Plants  of  the  South. 

TO  COVER  this  topic  ia  the  space  of  one  chapter  is  ob- 
viously impossible.  However,  no  book  about  beekeeping 
would  be  complete  without  some  reference  to  honey 
plants.  The  greatest  difficulty  in  arranging  the  contents  of  this 
chapter  has  been  to  get  reliable  information.  This  does  not 
mean  that  information  which  has  been  furnished  the  writer  has 
been  unreliable,  but  that  the  scientific  name  of  individual  honey 
plants  was  seldom  known  by  the  informants.    That  the  task  of 


Fig.  55.      Blossoms  of  bitterwced  in  Tennessee. 
Ill 


112 


BEEKEEPIXr.      IN     THE     SOUTH 


Fig.    56.     Blossoms   of   black  locust   in   Virginia. 


BEEKEEPINCx     IN     THE     SOUTH  113 

tracing  these  to  a  reliable  source  is  too  great  to  accomplish  in  a 
short  time  is  certain. 

Therefore  the  contents  of  this  chapter  will  show  only  the  ten 
or  twelve  plants  in  each  state  from  which  a  sufficient  portion  of 
the  surplus  honey  is  secured,  to  make  the  plants  of  real  apicul- 
tural  importance.  The  scientific  name  of  the  plant  has  been  de- 
termined by  reference  of  the  case  in  question  to  the  botany 
department  of  the  several  states  in  question,  or  to  recognized 
scientific  workers  in  the  locality.  The  writer  assumes  no  re- 
sponsibility for  the  accuracy  of  other  than  the  common  names, 
although  every  effort  has  been  taken  to  make  this  report  worthy 
of  credence. 

What  Is  a  Surplus  Honey  Plant? 

Another  feature  which  is  seldom  recognized  by  beekeepers  is 
that  frequently  honey  plants  should  be  classed  as  surplus  honey 
plants,  when  they  are  by  custom  placed  in  the  stimulative  or 
pollen-producing  column.  Too  frequently  beekeepers  say  this  or 
that  plant  does  not  yield  surplus.  Many  cases  investigated  have 
shown  that  the  plant  ordinarily  yielded  surplus  honey,  but  that 
the  bees  owned  by  the  man  in  question  were  seldom  in  shape 
to  get  surplus  from  the  plant  at  the  season  of  its  bloom.  Too 
frequently  this  is  because  of  poor  beekeeping,  rather  than  be- 
cause of  the  season  or  other  conditions. 

The  mistakes  of  northern  farmers  who  settle  in  the  South, 
have  frequently  been  pointed  out  to  the  writer,  by  government 
men  in  that  territory.  Attempts  are  made,  unsuccessfully,  to 
raise  crops  wholly  unadapted  to  the  South  or  by  methods  pre- 
destined to  failure,  m.erely  because  such  crops  or  methods  suc- 
ceeded in  the  North.  The  Northern  beekeeper  settling  in  the 
South  frequently  makes  the  same  mistakes.  Many  plant  buck- 
wheat or  alfalfa,  because  they  have  come  from  portions  of  the 
United  States  where  these  were  staple  honey  plants.  Not  enough 
attention  has  been  given  by  beekeepers  to  the  influence  of  tem- 
perature or  soils  on  nectar  secretion  of  honey  plants.  No  atten- 
tion can  be  given  to  these  factors  in  this  chapter,  but  they 
undoubtedly  explain  the  failure  of  buckwheat  or  alfalfa  to  yield 


lU 


BEEKEEriXG     IN      THE     SOUTH 


Fig.  57.      Beehiv^es  among  the  wild  asters  in  X'irginia. 

nectar  in  nearly  every  part  of  the  southern  states.  Many  plants 
have  nectar  secreting  qualities  attributed  to  them,  when  in  reality 
such  plants  are  seldom  visited  by  bees.  Doubtless  many  will 
criticize  the  lists  given  here.  We  leave  their  accuracy  to  the  test 
of  time.  We  enter  a  plea  that  beekeepers  do  more  careful  ob- 
serving in  their  beekeeping  practice.  There  are  few  industries 
in  which  less  is  known  of  the  "why"  of  things  than  in  beekeeping. 
Method  of  Listing. 
Plants  are  listed  by  states  in  the  alphabetical  order  of  their 
commonest  local  names.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  arrange 
the  plants  in  the  order  of  their  importance.  There  are  few  sur- 
plus honey  plants  which  are  always  important  throughout  one 
entire  state.  The  scientific  name  follows  the  common  name  as 
nearly  as  it  has  been  determined.  The  usual  order  of  its  bloom 
in  a  normal  season,  compared  with  others  on  the  list,  varies  too 
greatly  because  of  the  elevation  and  latitude  to  list.  Plants  con- 
sidered as  surplus  honey  plants  in  this  list  are  those  credited  by 
better  beekeepers  in  the  several  states  as  being  their  principal 
sources  of  surplus  honey,  or  those  which  the  author  knows  to  be 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


115 


important  sources.  All  other  plants,  although  worked  hard  at 
times  by  the  bees,  are  omitted.  The  states  chosen  as  southern 
states  are  those  classed  as  such  by  the  United  States  Department 
of  Agriculture. 

Alabama. 

Aster — Aster  Spp.  Clover  (Sweet) — Melilotus  alba 

Clover  (White) — TrifoUiim  re-      Cotton — Gossypitim  hhstittim 
pens  Gallberry — Ilex  Glabra 


Fig.  5S.     Mesquite  is  an  important  source  of  honey  in  Texas. 


116 


BEEKEEPING     IN      THE     SOUTH 


Huckleberry — Vaccinium  Spp. 

Locust  (Honey) — Gleditsia  tria- 
canthos,  L. 

Prairie  Clover — Trifolium  Caro- 
linian um'^ 

Palmetto — Sahal  megacarpa 

Partridge  pea — Cassia  chamae- 
crista,  L. 


Sourwood — Oxydendrnm    arbo- 

re u 771  (L)  DC. 
Spanish  needle — Bidens  Spp. 
Sumac — Rhus  Spp. 
Titi — Cyrilla  racemiflora 
Tupelo  (Black) —  Nyssa  Spp. 
Willow — Salix  Spp. 


Arkansas. 


Blackberry — Ruhus 
Clover  (Sweet) — Melilotus  alba 
Clover  (White) — Trifolium  re- 
pens 
Cotton — Gossypium  hirsutiim 
Huckleberrv — Vacciniaceae 


Persimmon — Diospyros  Virgin- 
ian a 
Spanish    needle — Bid  ns    Spp. 
Sumac — Rhus  Spp. 
Tupelo —  Nyssa  Spp. 


Florida. 


Clover  (Prairie) — Trifolium 
caroli?tianum? 

Chinquapin — Castanea  pumila 

Gallberry — Ilex  glabra 

Gum  (Black) — AH'^^a  Spp. 

Holly  {White)— Ilex  opaca? 

Mangrove  (Black) — Rhizopho- 
ra  mangle  Linn? 

Orange — Citrus  Spp. 

Palmetto  (Saw) — Sabal  mega- 
carpa 


Palmetto  (Cabbage) — Sa- 
bal palmetto 

Partridge  pea — Cassia  chamae- 
crista,  L. 

Spanish  needle — Bidens  Spp. 

Summer   farewell — Aster  Spp. 

Sunflower  (Wild) — Helianthus 
Spp. 

Wicky  (Basswood) — Tilia  am- 
ericana 


Georgia. 


Aster — Aster  spp. 
Black  tupelo — Nyssa  sylvatica 
Gallberry — Ilex  glabra 
Locust  (Honey) — Gleditsia  tri  :- 
canthos,  L. 


Huckleberry — Vaccinium   spp. 
Partridge  pea — Cassia  chamae- 

crista,  L. 
Prairie  clover — Trifolium  caro- 

lifiianum? 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 


117 


Sourwood — Oxydendrum    arbo- 

reiim  (L)  DC. 
Tulip  poplar — Liriodendron  tu- 

lipifera,  L. 


Titi — Cyrilla  racemiflora 
White  tupelo — Nyssa  aquatica 

L 
White  holly — Ilex  opaca 


Kentucky. 


Aster — Aster  Spp. 

Buckwheat — Fagopyrtim  fago- 
pyrum 

Clover  (White) — Trifolium  re- 
pens 

Clover  (Alsike) — Trifolium  hy- 
bridiim 

Clover  (Crimson) — Trifolium 
incarnatum 

Cowpea — Vigna  sinensis 

Dandelion — Taraxacum  taraxa- 
cum 

Daisy  (Whiteweed) — Chrysan- 
themum leucanthemum 

Goldenrod — Solidago  Spp. 


Locust  (Black) — Robinia  pseu- 

dacacia 
Linden    (Linn-Basswood) — 

Tilia  americana 
Melilotus     (Sweet     Clover) 

— Melilotus  alba 
Melons  (Cultivated) — Citrullus 

etc. 
Maple — Acer  rubrum 
Persimmon — Diospyros  z  irgin- 

iana 
Red  bud — Cercis  canadensis 
Tulip    tree     Tulip    Poplar) — 

Liriodendron  tulipifera 
Willow — Salix  Spp. 


Louisiana. 


Alfalfa — Medicago  sativa 

Boneset — Eupatorium  perfolia- 
tum 

Clover  (White) — Trifolium  re- 
pens 

Cotton — Gossypium  hirsutum 

Gallberry — Ilex  glabra 

Goldenrod — Solidago  Spp. 

Heartsease  (Smartweed) — Per- 
sic aria  per  sic  aria 

Locust  (Black) — Robinia 
Pseudoacacia,   L. 


Orange — Citrus  Spp. 

Partridge  pea — Cassia  chamae- 
crista 

Peppervine — Ampelopsis  arbo- 
rea 

Rattan — Berchemia  scandens. 

Saw  Palmetto — Sabal  mega- 
car  pa 

Tupelo  (^Black) — Nyssa  Spp. 

Willow  (Button) — Salix  Spp. 


118 


BEEKEEPING      IX      THK     SOUTH 


Aster — Aster  Spp. 

Chestnut — Castanea  dentata 

Clover  (\\^hite) — TH folium  re- 
pens 

Clover  (Alsike) — Trifoliiim  hy- 
bridum 

Clover  (Sweet-Melilotus)  — 
MeJilotiis  alba 

Goldenrod — Solidaoo  Spp. 


Maryland. 

Joe  pye  weed   (Boneset) — Eu- 


patorium  purpureiim 
Locust        (Black) — Robinia 

pseudoacacia 
Sumac — Rhus  Spp. 
Thistle  (Blue  ) — Echiumvidgare 
Tulip    poplar     (Tulip    tree) — 

Liriodendron  ttdipifera. 


Mississippi. 


Aster — Aster  Spp. 

Bitterweed — (N  o  commercial 
value) 

Carrot    (wild) — Dauctis   Spp.? 

Clover  {White) ^Tri folium  re- 
pens 

Clover  (Sweet) — Melilotus  alba 

Cotton — Gossypium  hirsutum 

Gall  berry — Ilex  glabra 

Gum  (Tupelo) — Nyssa  aqua- 
tica 

Gum  (Black) —  Nyssa  sylvatica 

Heartsease — Persicaria  persi- 
caria 


Holly  (White) — Ilex  opaca? 

Locust  (Black) — Robinia 
Pseudoacacia,  L. 

Palmetto  (Saw) — Sabal  mega- 
car  pa 

Partridge  Pea — Cassia  chamae- 
crista,  L. 

Sourwood — Oxydendrum  arbor- 
eum 

Danish  Needle — Bidens  Spp. 

Sumac — Rhus  Spp. 

Titi — Cyrilla  racemiflora 

Willow — Salix  Spp. 


North  Carolina. 


Asters — Aster  Spp. 
Blackberry — Vaccinium   Spp. 
Clethra — Clethracae 
Gallberry — Ilex  Glabra 
Goldenrod — Solidago  Spj:). 
Holly  (White) — Ilex  opaca} 
Ironwood     (White    Titi) — Cy- 
rilla racemiflora,  L. 


Sourwood — Oxydendrum  arbor- 

eum 
Sweet     Bay     (Laurel    Tree)  — 

Persea  Borbonia,  L — Spreng. 
Tulij:)  poplar — Liriodendron  tu- 

lipifera 


BEEKEEPING     IX     THE     SOUTH 


119 


Oklahoma. 


Alfalfa — Medicago  saliva 
Aster — Aster  Spp. 
Clover  (Sweet) — Melilotus  alba 
Clover  (White) — Trifolium  re- 
pens 
Cotton — Gossypium  hirsulum 
Goldenrod — Solidago  Spp. 


Locust  (Honey) — Gleditsia 

triacanlhos,   L. 
Milkweed — Asclepias  Spp. 
Partridge  pea — Cassia  chamae- 

crisla,  L. 
Persimmon — Diospyrosvirgini- 

ana 


Heartsease  (Smartweed) — Per-      Sumac — Rhus  Spp. 


sicaria  per  si  car  ia 


South  Carolina, 


Alder — Alniis  Spp. 

Clover  (White) — Trifolium  re- 
pens 

Gallberry — Ilex  glabra 

Gum  (Black) —  Nyssa  sylvatica 

Gum  (Tupelo) — Nyssa  aqua- 
tica 

Holly  (White)— //e.T  opaca'^ 

Persimmon — Diospyros  virgini- 
ana 


Privet — Ligtistrum  Spp. 
Tulip  poplar — Liriodendron  tu- 

lipifera 
Sourwood — Oxydendnim  arbor- 

eiim 
Rattan — Berchemia  scandens 
Vetch — Vicia  Spp. 


Tennessee. 


Aster — Aster  Spp. 

Basswood — Tilia  Spp. 

Bitterweed — (N  o  commercial 
value) 

Boneset — Eupatorium  perfolia- 
tiim 

Clover  (White) — Trifolium  re- 
pens 

Clover  (Alsike) — Trifolium  hy- 
bridum 

Clov^er  (Crimson) — Trifolium 
incarnatum 


Goldenrod — Solidago  Spp. 
Heartsease  (Smartweed) — Per- 

sicaria  per  sicaria 
Locust  (Black) — Robinia  pseii- 

doacacia,  L. 
Sourvvood — Oxydendrum  arbor- 

eum 
Spanish  needle — Bidens  Spp. 
Tulip    poplar — Liriodendron 

Tulipifera 


120 


BEEKEEPING     IN     THE     SOUTH 
Texas. 


Cotton — Gossypium  hirsutum 
Horsemint — Monarda  punctata 
Mesquite — Pro  so  pis  gla^idulosa 
Huajilla — Havardia  brevifolia 
Catsclaw — Acacia    Greggii     & 

Wright  a 
Cactus — Opuntia  Spp. 
Broomweed — Gutierrezia     Tex- 

ana 


Sumac — Rhus  Spp. 
Persimmon    (Mexican) — Dios- 

pyras  Texana 
Holly    (Youpon) — Ilex    opaca, 

etc. 
Rattan — Berchemia  scajidens 
White  brush — Lippia  ligustrina 


Virginia. 


Apple — Malaceae  etc.  (Rosa- 
ceae) 

Aster — Aster  Spp. 

Basswood — Tilia  Spp. 

Blue  thistle — Echium  vulgar e 

Clover  (White) — Trifolium  re- 
pens 

Clover  (Crimson) — Trifolium 
incarnatum 


Gall  berry — Ilex  glabra 
Goldenrod — Solidago  Spp. 
Persimmon — Diospyros  virgini- 

ana 
Sourvvood — Oxydendrum  arbor- 

eum 
Sumac — Rhus  Spp. 
Tulip  poplar — Liriodendron  tu- 

lipifera 


West  Virginia. 


Aster — Aster  spp. 

Basswood — Tilia  spp. 

Buckwheat — Fagopyrum  escu- 
lentum 

Clover  (White) — Trifolium  re- 
pens 

Clover  (Sweet) — Melilotus  alba 

Clover  (Alsike) — Trifolium  hy- 
bridum 


Goldenrod — Solidago  spp. 
Gum  (Black) — Nyssa  sylvatica 
Red  bud — Cercis  canadensis 
Sourwood — Oxydendrum  arbor- 

eum 
Sumac — Rhus  spp. 
Tulip  poplar — Liriodendron  tu- 

lipifera 


Library 

W.  C.  Stvr,te^-''^- 


r>•<S| 


INDEX 


Pages 

A.  F.  B 98-102-104 

After  Swarm  Losses 84 

Alluvial  Regions 46-69 

Amount  of  Bees  Necessarv'.„ 10-13 

Aster  Honey  for  Wintering 51 

Bee  Pests 64 

Beginners'  Needs 30 

Building  Up  Colonies 17 

Color  of  Southern  Honey 12-13-105 

Comb  or  Extracted  Honey 32-39 

Combless  Shipping  Packages 55 

Conserving  the  Bees 20 

Cotton  as  a  Honey  Plant 77 

Cultivated  Nectar  Secreting  Plants 72 

Deeper  Brood  Chambers 76 

E.  F.  B 85-97-104 

Fall  Flows  in  the  Mountains 86 

Hindrance  to  Disease  Eradication 100 

Honey  Flows,  Time  of 37 

Honey  Flows,  Type  of 38 

Honey  Shipments  and  Disease 102 

Honey  Sources: 

Alabama 1 1 5 

Arkansas 116 

Florida 116 

Georgia.- 116-117 

Kentucky., 117 

Louisiana 117 

Marjland 118 

Mississippi 118 

North  Carolina 118 

Oklahoma 119 

South  Carolina 119 

Tennessee 119 

Texas        120 

Virginia 120 

West  Virginia 120 


Pages 

Making  a  Start 29 

Melilotus  Area 73 

Migratory  Beekeeping._ 42-43-62 

Modern  Hive,  A 25 

Mountain  Climates 81 

Mountain  Regions 48-79 

Organizations,  Honey  Selling 108-109 

Overstocking 101 

Palmettos  Affected  by  Heat 62 

Prices  Paid  for  Honey 107 

Queens  for  Package  Bees._ 64 

Rearing  Queen  Bees 57 

Seasonal  Operations 35 

Shallow  Supers  as  Brood  Chambers 24 

Snowfallin  the  South 41 

Soils  and  Nectar  Secretion 61-69-80 

"Southern  Honey"  Classifications 105 

Style  of  Hive  for  the  South _ 23-26 

Surplus  Honey  Plant,  What  is  a 113 

Swarm  Prevention 53 

Swarm  Prevention  by  Packages 56 

Texas  Beekeeping  Notes 87 

Time  to  Ship  Bees 56 

Time  to  Start  Beekeeping  in  the  South 30 

Trees  as  Honey  Plants. 79 

Tropical  Regions 45-61 

Tulip  Poplar  Yields 80 

\'ariety  of  Honey  Plants 65 

White  Clover  in  the  Mountains 79 

Wilder  on  Wintering 40 

Winter  Losses  Heavy 83 

Winter  Protection 50 

Winter  Stores,  Greater  Use  of 23 

Winter  Supplies 51 

Winter  Temperatures,  Chart  of  Kentucky..40 

Yields  of  Honey  in  the  South 10-13 


Inspection  Service  for  Bee  Disease. 


Zero  Temperatures 


.47-76 


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BEE  JOURNAL 


Practical  Queen  Rearing 

BY    FRANK   C.   PELLETT 

In  preparation  for  this  book  Mr,  Pel- 
lett  visited  many  of  America's  fore- 
most beekeepers  and  queen  breeders, 
both  north  and  south,  and  has  de- 
scribed their  methods  fully. 
The  methods  of  the  older  queen- 
breeders  and  writers.  Alley,  Doolittle 
and  others,  are  explained  with  the 
variations  which  are  the  development 
of  later  years. 

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American  Honey  Plants 

BY  FRANK  C.  PELLETT 

The  first  book  in   the   English  language  on   the  subject  of 
honey  plants 


A  knowledge  of  the  sources  of  nec- 
tar is  fundamental  to  the  success  of 
the  beekeeper,  as  the  difference  of 
a  mile  or  two  in  distance  often 
doubles  the  returns  from  the  api- 
ary on  account  of  better  pasturage. 
Tliis  book  is  the  result  of  years  of 
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ey producing  sections,  from  New 
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An  authoritative  book  by  an  expert 
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Profusely  illustrated  with  original 
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AMERICAN  BEE  JOURNAL 
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OUTAPIARIES 

BY   M.  G.  DADANT 

A  clear  and  concise  explanation  of  the  requirements  for 
proper  placing,  arranging  and  managing  outapiaries. 
Special  chapters  devoted  to  Apiary  Sites,  Basis  of  Placing 
the  Apiary,  Systems  of  Management,  Moving,  Autos  and 
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apiary  w^ork  during  different  seasons,  as  applied  to  out- 
apiaries. 

This  book  is  especially  valuable  to  the  beginning  out- 
apiarist  and  will  contain  many  items  of  interest  to  the 
older  veteran.     Cloth  Bound.     125  Pages. 

Price  5^1.00.     Mailing  weight  one  pound.    50  Illustrations. 


American  Honey  Plants 

BY  FRANK  C.  PELLETT 

The   First  Book   in   the   English   Language   on   the   Subject 
of  the  Honey  Plants 

A  knowledge  of  the  sources  of  nectar  is  fundamental 
to  the  success  of  the  beekeeper,  as  the  difference  of  a 
mile  or  two  in  distance  often  doubles  the  returns  from 
the  apiary,  because  of  better  pasture.  This  book  is  the 
result  of  many  years  of  study  and  personal  visits  to  im- 
portant honey  producing  districts,  from  New  England  to 
California  and  from  Canada  to  Florida  and  Texas.  An 
authoritative  book  by  an  expert  beekeeper.  Profusely 
illustrated  with  original  photographs.  300  large  8vo 
pages;  155  fine  illustrations.  Price  $2.50.  Mailing  weight 
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Langstroth  on  the  Honeybee 

REVISED  BY  DADANT 

This  book,  originally  written  by  Rev.  L.  L.  Langstroth, 
the  inventor  of  the  movable  frame  hive,  has  been  revised 
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FIRST  LESSONS 
IN  BEEKEEPING 


First  Lessons  in  Beekeeping 

BY  C.  P.  DADANT 


The  senior  editor  of  the  American 
Bee  Journal,  who  is  the  author  of  this 
book,  has  spent  nearly  all  his  life  in 
a  beekeeping  atmosphere.  His  father, 
the  late  Charles  Dadant,  was  an  in- 
vestigator w^ho  became  well  known 
on  both  sides  of  the  Atantic.  As  a 
young  man,  the  author  of  this  book 
w^as  associated  with  his  father  in 
honey  production  and  assisted  him  in 
the  many  experiments  which  he  con- 
ducted in  his  efforts  to  make  bee- 
keeping a  practical  success. 
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Scientific  Queen  Rearing 

BY  G.  M.  DOOLITTLE 

An  old  work  that  has  had  a  big  sale.  Gives  Doolittle's 
methods  of  queen  rearing  by  artificial  grafting.  We  ad- 
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Oldest  Bee  Journal  in  the   English   Language.     A  36-page 
Monthly   Magazine 

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ADIhJilCAN 
Bth-JOLRNAI 


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the  country  receives  attention.  The 
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New  methods,  latest  news,  illustrated 
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A  Thousand  Answers  to  Beekeeping 
Questions 

CY  DR.  C.  C.  MILLER 

For  over  25  years  Doctor  Miller  answered  questions  for 
beginners  and  veterans  alike  through  the  columns  of  the 

■       American     Bee    Journal.     More   than 
10,000   of    these    questions    have    been 
answered  in  this  manner.   These  have 
been    sifted    and    more    than    1,000   of 
them  included   in   this  new  book,  ed- 
ited by  Alaurice  G.  Dadant. 
Alphabetically    arranged    by    subject, 
this  book  will  clear  up  many  problems 
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The  texts  all  tell  a  connected  story  of 
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OUTAPIARIES 

BY  M.  G.  DADANT 

A  clear  and  concise  explanation  of  the  requirements  for 
proper  placing,  arranging  and  managing  of  outapiaries. 
Too  many  beekeepers  expand  mto  outapiary  beekeeping 
without  fundamental  knowledge  of  its  requirements.  The 
result  is  that  apiaries  are  often  located  improperly  and 
have  to  be  moved  after  errors  are  discovered  bj^  costly 
experience. 

Special  chapters  are  devoted  to  apiary  sites,  basis  of  plac- 
ing the  apiary,  systems  of  management,  moving,  autos  and 
trucks,  honey  houses  and  equipment,  and  treatment  of 
apiary  during  different  seasons  of  the  year,  with  special 
apparatus  used  by  large  beekeepers. 

This  book  is  especially  valuable  to  the  beginning  out- 
apiarist,  but  will  contain  many  items  of  value  to  the  ex- 
perienced outyard  man. 

The  book  is  cloth  bound,  has  125  pages  and  50  illustra- 
tions, and  is  printed  on  fine  paper.     Price  $1.00. 

American  Bee  Journal,  Hamilton,  111. 

^'5 .  j3*| 


(14/19/00 


